Smooth Performance of the Night: Millsap helps Hawks bury Nets

After taking Brooklyn's best punches through the first five games of the series, the Atlanta Hawks put the Nets out of their misery with a Game 6 stomping at Barclays Center on Friday.

All-Star power forward Paul Millsap was a big reason why, as after a rough Game 5, Millsap saved his best for last in finishing off the Nets.

Millsap scored a game-high 25 points on 9-of-15 shooting to go with nine rebounds, six assists and two steals in 31 and a half minutes of nearly flawless ball, posting a game-high plus/minus of +29 in the process.

His 2-of-4 3-point performance in Game 6 only added to an impressive stretch-4 display in the series victory, as he knocked down 10 of his 21 (47.6 percent) long range attempts against the Nets.

Millsap's shooting shouldn't have been any sort of revelation for Brooklyn, as the 30-year-old has shot nearly 36 percent from deep on 2.9 attempts per game over his two All-Star seasons in Atlanta, but the big man posting Korver-esque numbers from behind the arc certainly could not have been expected.

That perimeter shooting didn't exactly keep Millsap off the offensive glass either, as all nine of his boards Friday were of the defensive variety. He did collect 13 offensive rebounds in the series, and his 58 total rebounds (as well as his Defensive Rebound Rate of 22.0) finished second in the series, only behind teammate Al Horford.

Overall, the Hawks performed more than 30 points per 100 possessions better with Millsap on the court in the series as opposed to on the bench, which is also a testament to small sample sizes.

But if we're talking small sample sizes, here's the complete list of versatile players who averaged at least 15 points, nine rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block in a single postseason, minimum six games played:

Larry Bird, 1981 and 1984
Charles Barkley, 1986
Hakeem Olajuwon, 1997
Paul Millsap, 2015

The three Hall of Famers on that list all maintained those dynamic stat-lines through 12-to-23 games, but they also made only 11 3-pointers combined in 68 contests, an indication of how dynamic Millsap's game has been through one round.