The main Hawk-doubter refrain these days is that they're unproven in the playoffs. Oddly enough this is seemingly only leveled at the Hawks. Some doubt the system, but that's absurd because San Antonio ran a similar system winning the championship last year and should have won it 2 years ago. Clearly the system can't be issue, so I turn to the players. I decided to take a look at the starting fives for each of the top 5 teams in the Eastern Conference and see how things really stack up with respect to playoff games.
Let's start with our Hawks:
Al Horford 48 games
Paul Millsap 55 games
DeMarre Carroll 11 games
Kyle Korver 67 games
Jeff Teague 36 games
Total 217 games
How about the Cavaliers:
Timofey Mozgov 7 games
Kevin Love 0 games
LeBron James 158 games
J.R. Smith 51 games
Kyrie Irving 0 games
Total 216 games
The Bulls:
Joakim Noah 48 gamesPau Gasol 105 gamesMike Dunleavy 14 gamesJimmy Butler 20 gamesDerrick Rose 29 games
Total 216 games
The Raptors:
Jonas Valanciunas 7 games
Amir Johnson 18 games
Terrence Ross 7 games
DeMar Derozan 7 games
Kyle Lowry 20 games
Total 59 games
The Wizards
Marcin Gortat 57 games
Nene 54 games
Paul Pierce 148 games
Bradley Beal 11 games
John Wall 11 games
Total 281 games
Grouping them:
Extensive (over 100 games and a ring):
James, Pierce, and Gasol
Substantial (over 40 games):
Korver, Gortat, Millsap, Nene, Smith, Noah, and Horford.
Some (over 20 games):
Teague, Rose, Lowry, and Butler.
Toronto has little experience and can't argue the point, but you probably don't hear that criticism because the Raptors get ignored. Washington has the most experience, but it's primarily due to what's left of Paul Pierce. The teams that pundits adore are Cleveland and Chicago. As you can see they essentially have the same number of playoff games as the Hawks starters. Maybe it's the presence of the one player each from the extensive experience category that give them the benefit of the doubt, but should it? Isn't Lebron's experience offset by 2 players with no experience and 1 player with a single series under his belt. If Schumpert winds up as the starter over Smith the experience drops further. Must pundits assume Chicago has a lot of experience, but beyond Gasol reality is something different. Derrick Rose has played in less playoff games than Jeff Teague. Noah and Horford have the same number of playoff games. Dunleavy (or Snell) and Butler have significantly less experience than Millsap or Korver and weren't on the Bulls team that made the conference finals back in 2011. Four of the Hawks starters have won a series in the playoffs.
Bottom line:
No team in the top 5 of the East has a significant playoff experience edge on the others. Each team that has an experienced player is flanked with some inexperienced teammates. While they use that against the Hawks, it could be applied to anyone. Take heart, the next time some poorly informed loudmouth says the Hawks haven't proven anything in the playoffs yet, you can respond that neither has the team they are picking.