Atlanta Hawks guard Dennis Schroder (17) has the ball knocked away by Washington Wizards forward Otto Porter Jr. Hawks C Dwight Howard, who had 53 double-doubles in the regular season, collected his first of the series. Their bench outscored the visitors’ 32-23. “Our film session was good (Tuesday) and we came back with a good focus”. The Wizards have opened the game slowly, except for Beal – his shots kept them attached until a nice run led by Wall enable them to take tiny halftime lead. Total Fouls-Atlanta 21, Washington 20.
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The split in some of the advanced numbers is even more pronounced.
Paul Millsap recorded a double-double with 21 points and 11 rebounds. So is Markieff Morris, who’s so nettled by Paul Millsap that he has more fouls (19) than baskets (16). If the Wizards want to keep their home court advantage, however, the rest of the Wizards, along with Beal, are going to have to knock down more outside shots.
There is a glut of information to go over in this series, and plenty of statistics that tell the story of its five games so far.
The Hawks were down by four and played the final 11 seconds like a team that forgot the score. Schroder added 27 with nine assists and Atlanta’s starters ranged from Schroder’s +18 to Howard’s +24.
Heading into the 4th quarter tied the Hawks let the big men take over and help them pull out to a ten point lead with less than three minutes left in Monday’s game. “Tonight, he got his offensive game going”, Chicago’s Dwyane Wade said after Bradley scored 24 points to lead Boston to a 108-97 victory and a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series. Credit the Hawks’ defense for being able to generate some stops, forcing some ugly shot selection by the Wizards. Atlanta dominated points in the paint 60-34.
John Wall stood at top of the key, pounding the ball, waiting for the Atlanta Hawks to prove their desperation. (Jose Calderon: Immense.) As mentioned elsewhere, that second quarter stands as the biggest moment of this series.
Schroder did not have a turnover in the first half.
“We know they have an incredible crowd”, Wall said of the Hawks. His efficiency in transition is second only to Normal Powell among players with at least 10 transition possessions in the playoffs.
Wall tends to be one of the better defenders at his position in the National Basketball Association, but it’s a fair point from Buckner.
Millsap has excelled in the * a href=”http://stats.nba.com/players/post-up/#!?CF=Poss*GE*10&Season=2016-17&SeasonType=Playoffs&sort=PPG&dir=1″ target=”_blank” *post. The most talented player in this series is Washington point guard John Wall. He scored 10 points, added five assists and earned a #PodiumGame. If they do not win the next two consecutive games their season will be over. Washington lost to Seattle in a rematch of the NBA Finals just weeks later.
“We know that we just gave up two games (in Atlanta)”, Beal said. But Budenholzer took his foot off the gas, failing to capitalize by punishing the Wizards inside with Howard.
Howard admitted it was “frustrating” after he did not play at all in the fourth quarter of Game 2. The victor of this game will grab the series by the throat and be in firm control. Jennings had already collected a steal against Calderon and scored against him, but cemented the one-on-one battle by losing Calderon with a behind-the-back crossover dribble then penetrating to find Bojan Bogdanovic for the reverse layup. Game 5 is Wednesday night in Washington.
But that won’t happen.
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These first round series could be closed out on Friday, with the Wizards, Celtics and Jazz all going for knockout blows. Atlanta must now win two straight games against the Washington Wizards to stay alive in the postseason.
