The Hawks Barrage from 3-Point Range Sinks Wizards 137-129

James Anderson via Flickr

NBA

The Hawks Barrage from 3-Point Range Sinks Wizards 137-129

Unfortunately for the Washington Wizards, the Atlanta Hawks had one of those nights shooting the basketball. Everything they shot from 3-point range seemed to go in, even improbable bank shots. They made a season high 20 threes on 48% shooting to down the Wizards 137-129. Four players finished with at least four made threes, led by Taurean Price who scored 21 points. He was 5-7 from 3-point range.

“Tonight we couldn’t guard the three point line,” said Wizards coach Scott Brooks,”We came up short on all of our close-outs, and they made shots. Then when we tried to, when we did good close-outs, then they made shots, because they were hot,  and they were filling up the basket. [It] became as big as an ocean and we couldn’t get the stops we needed.”

The game started out with both teams trading strong quarters. The Hawks opened the game scoring 35 points to take a 15 point lead into the second quarter. However, the Wizards responded. They unleashed 37 points to get back into the game, reducing the lead to four at half. However, the Hawks continued scoring from deep, adding 76 points in the second half.

Bradley Beal continued his strong season, but started out slow, with only four points in the first half. He finished with 27 points to lead the Wizards in scoring. Others contributed like Jeff Green with 26 points off the bench, and Trevor Ariza also contributed with 25. They did not shoot well from the field, especially from deep. As a team they shot 31% from three point range, only making 12 threes compared to Atlanta’s 20.

Missed Opportunity

Atlanta forward John Collins missed the entire second half due to a laceration on the face. He had a double-double in the first half, and was on the way to a big game. The Wizards could not take advantage of the Hawks being down a starter. Rookie Omari Spellman filled in well for Collins, finishing with 16 points (4 threes) and 10 rebounds. This was the last game for the Hawks on a two week road trip, but the Wizards looked like the tired team. This loss dropped the Wizards to three games out of the eighth playoff spot. If they don’t capitalize on the next few games, it may be too late to turn the season around.

“Its been something that we be trying to figure out all year,” said Brooks,”We have been a pretty inconsistent defensive team, we’ve been pretty good the last x amount of games, but tonight it started off, we didn’t start the game locking in defensively. We scored the first six points, but then after that they went on a run.”

Murphy’s Law

More bad news for the Wizards as John Wall, who was already out for the season, has ruptured his achilles tendon in a fall in his home. He will be out at least 12 months, which means he will miss the most of the 2019-20 season. Wall had surgery on his left heel back in December and was expected to be out 6 to 8 months, but now the Wizards may be out their star point guard for an entire season. His four year, $170 million contract extension begins next season. He is due $37.8 million next season, and it looks like the Wizards may have to petition for more salary cap relief as they did this year.

Up Next

The Wizards travel to Milwaukee on Wednesday night to take on the Bucks, who they just lost to by 16 points recently. They have a chance to catch up in the east with their next nine games being against conference opponents. They also currently sit tied for tenth place with Orlando, and are behind Detroit and Miami for that final playoff spot.

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Photo Credit

James Anderson via Flickr