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Two-Point Guard Lineup Paying Dividends For Hawks

When we play the Pelicans Friday in New Orleans, Jeff Teague will spot a familiar face on the opposing bench: point guard Ish Smith.

Teague played at Wake Forest for two seasons before making the jump to the NBA, and Smith was Wake's point guard for both of those years. Smith functioned as the team's primary ballhandler and facilitator. Teague worked off the ball while serving as both the primary scorer and secondary playmaker.

It's not a role entirely dissimilar how we are using Teague now. Dennis Schröder has emerged as our most dynamic bench player, and to accommodate both of our talented point guards, head coach Mike Budenholzer has paired them on the court together in heavy doses. Budenholzer sees it as an offensive diversification, because both players are so good at using teammates’ picks to dart to the hoop.

"Pick-and-roll is such a hard action to guard," Budenholzer said, "and the more guys you have doing it, the more multiple pick and rolls you can have in a possession, the harder it is (to guard)."

Budenholzer also noted that two-point-guard lineups can try a pick-and-roll on one side and look for an open shot. If it's there, great. If not, there's another pick-and-roll waiting to be had on the opposite side of the floor.

Schröder said that what he likes most is the pace of the lineups.

"Me and Jeff can both bring it up," he said, "and we make the basketball game faster."

One of the challenges of the two-point-guard lineup is that someone has to start each play off the ball. Teague's experience, both in the NBA at large and at Wake Forest, has prepared the All-Star to be the better secondary attacker. 

In fact, Teague has played well in all roles this season. If the season ended today, his 19.2 points per game would be a career high. 

In addition, Teague currently ranks fourth in the NBA in points scored on drives (8.5 per game), and he's doing it with a turnover percentage that is tiny (3.4%) compared to most of the league's best dribble penetrators. 

One area Schröder knows he has to pay extra attention to with that smaller lineup is rebounding.

"On defense, we've got to hit our man because of rebounding, because we're smaller," Schröder said.

We have posted a 5-1 won-loss record while refining a tool that will help us score at the rim against the tighter defenses of the postseason. 

We have also won both of the games that Teague and Schröder started together.

Schröder said he likes playing with Teague and considers it educational.

"I learn every day from him," he said, "and I try to improve (by learning) from him every night."

Story by KL ChouinardTwitter: @KLChouinard