Got a lot of thoughts on this one:
We didn't play all that great (besides JR), Kyrie barely played, and we won the "feel out" game on the road. Huge. I was waiting for us to go on a run, and we did in a big way. But if JR wasn't on absolute fire, it might have never came. Glad we won the game, but still have so much to learn from it and improve upon.
Honestly, I probably wouldn't play Kyrie the rest of the series. Not saying we are already guaranteed to be in the Finals, but if we are going to be there, we need him healthy anyway. Teague is just absolutely torching him and he is probably doing more harm than good right now on the court unfortunately. If Kyrie is healthy, even if he can't "guard" Teague, he would get his 20-30 points which would basically offset everything Teague did offensively and gives us a blowout win. But with Kyrie hurt, he is that much more of a liability of defense, but can't even get close to making it up on offense.
And Teague can score. But he normally isn't even scoring as much as he did today. Teams know Kyrie is hurt and take advantage of it. Really, all we have to do this series is shut Teague down and we win. Sure, we are going to give up jumpers to Horford, Millsap, and even Korver here or there, but it's not even close if Teague doesn't go off. We should be prepared to adjust and lock in on him next game. Put Shump on him most of the game and keep him out of the paint.
And I'm interested to see how the Hawks react to the Demarre injury. It could inspire them and make them play harder and try to "win for him". Or it could crush their spirit and make them throw in the towel early. Either way, it will have a clear impact on the court and change the rotations and defensive schemes on LeBron.
