The Washington Wizards take a commanding 2-0 series lead over the Atlanta Hawks after a 109-101 home win.
Atlanta forward Paul Millsap got a taste Sunday of what the Washington Wizards have planned for him in their first-round playoff series. Dwight Howard scored just six points and played just 20 minutes as the Hawks elected to play smaller lineups with Millsap at the center position.
Markieff Morris told Millsap to shut up during Game 1, escalating a physical showdown between the power forwards. Nowadays he's a pass-first backup for the Wizards, asked mainly to push the pace while John Wall is taking a much-needed rest.
Wall finished with a game-high 32 points and 14 assists, scoring or assisting on 62 of the Wizards' 114 points in Game 1 of the first-round series.
The Wizards now lead the best-of-seven series, 1-0.
"John can take over games, he can take over quarters, he can take over plays", coach Scott Brooks said. There is no word on whether or not he will play in game two, but he his presence will be something to watch for. Atlanta, like Washington, shot much better in the second half (53.8 percent) versus the first (33.3 percent). Conscious that he couldn't do it all himself, Wall embraced the role as defensive stopper and facilitator on Sunday. You see it in Marcin Gortat, who dunked on Millsap, yelled and made a hammer gesture in the fourth quarter, for which he received a technical foul.
In the end, I do not believe the Washington Wizards have enough to overtake the Cavs this year, despite having young talent mixed with some veteran experience.
Samsung Galaxy S8 prototype reportedly photographed with dual rear cameras
Both devices will be powered by Octa-Core Exynos 9 Series 8895 processor along with 4GB RAM, 64GB storage, and Mali-G71 MP20 GPU. Since the Galaxy S8 and S8+ come with the Android 7.0 Nougat pre-installed, they are now in line to get the next Android update.
Scoring droughts and minor injuries are going to happen in that environment. Schroder had 15 points, but the Hawks missed all eight of their 3-point attempts and shot 34.9 percent from the field.
John Wall delivered a team high 32 points as he and Beal tallied 20 of the Wizards' final 21 points in a penalty filled contest. "The start of the season was not the way we wanted to start, so you're looking like, 'I hope we're not going through the same process as past year.' To be back in the playoffs ... couldn't ask for (anything) better".
After game one, Millsap made a point of calling out what he considered overly aggressive play from the Wizards - "They were playing MMA", he said.
Despite the Hawks making 39 trips to the free-throw line, compared to the Wizards' 17, the difference was the third quarter when Morris and Wall took over.
HAWKS: Schroder shot 8 of 16 and didn't appear to be hampered by a sprained foot that coach Mike Budenholzer didn't expect to cause him any limitations. He finished with seven points and 14 rebounds.
Draymond Green contributed 19 points, 12 rebounds, nine assists and five blocked shots to help last season's National Basketball Association runner-up take the first step in what it is counting on to be a championship run.
"I won't be finishing first", Wall said. I guess if we're playing MMA, they're giving y'all the fouls. At Tuesday's practice, Hardaway and rookie Taurean Prince both mentioned the idea of building a "wall" of defenders quickly in order to prevent Wall from once again causing havoc on the fast break. Wall is the complete package as a basketball player. He must try to get into Morris' head, as Morris did with him, and discourage him on both ends of the floor. Because of their defense, they hung with the Hawks, despite their early shooting woes, while playing Atlanta's slow style.
Comments