Wizards control Hawks in Game 1: 3 takeaways
By John Buhler
The Washington Wizards pummeled the Atlanta Hawks in the second half to win Game 1 of their first-round series, 114-107. Here are the three big takeaways.
Game 1 of the 2017 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals series between the No. 4 Washington Wizards and the No. 5 Atlanta Hawks is in the books. Atlanta may have taken a 48-45 lead into halftime on the road, but Washington proved too strong in the second half. The Wizards won Game 1 easily, though the score may not indicate that. Washington takes Game 1, 114-07.
Here are the three biggest takeaways from Washington’s Game 1 win over Atlanta:
Takeaways
This is John Wall’s series if he wants it. This 2016-17 season has been one of tremendous growth for Washington Wizards point guard John Wall. He has thrived under head coach Scott Brooks’ teachings and has finally tapped into his star potential.
While the game with Atlanta hung in the balance in the first half, Wall led the Wizards on a furious run in the second to outlast Atlanta in Washington on Easter Sunday. He led the game with 32 points and 14 assists. Wall is becoming the star that Washington needs to go far in these Eastern Conference Playoffs.
Washington has not gotten past the Eastern Conference Semifinals since Wall came to the nation’s capital in 2010. The Wizards will be as good as Wall allows them to be. This is 100 percent his series if he wants it to be. If he wants to be taken seriously as an NBA superstar, he has to lead the Wizards to a first-round victory over the Hawks. He has the ability to do this.
Washington’s bench is a glaring weakness. The Washington starting-five of Wall, Bradley Beal, Otto Porter Jr., Markieff Morris and Marcin Gortat can hang with anybody. However, the Washington bench is still terrifyingly thin. Atlanta was able to keep pace with a superior Washington team, thanks to the Hawks have the advantage in the second unit.
Not that a deep rotation will ever be used in the NBA Playoffs, but Washington will need better contributions out of its sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth-men to go far in the Eastern Conference Playoffs. Washington’s bench had a combined 15 points and 11 of them came from second-year wing Kelly Oubre.
The Wizards acquired Bojan Bogdanovic in a trade with the Brooklyn Nets in the hopes that he could provide a spark of the Washington bench. He mustered four points off the Washington bench. Atlanta’s second-unit had 35 points to Washington’s 15. It will be hard for the Wizards to win a road game in this series if their bench gives them nothing, especially when they head down to Atlanta for Games 3 and 4.
Atlanta must continue to win on the glass. It wasn’t all bad for the Hawks. The bench played well. Dennis Schroder did his best to keep pace with John Wall, though he’s clearly outmatched. Paul Millsap did enough to keep Atlanta in this game. Most importantly is that Atlanta won on the glass without giving its best effort there.
Atlanta won the rebounding battle over Washington 48-42 in an inconsistent fashion. Dwight Howard led Atlanta with 14 rebounds, 10 of them coming in the first half. He needs to play better on offense and take advantage of his size over Gortat.
That being said, Atlanta can still win a few games in this series and possibly steal it all if they can continue to win on the glass. Washington shot 45 percent from the field, but most of the Wizards buckets came at the rim in transition. Hawks head coach Mike Budenholzer needs to make adjustments in transition defense to hang around in Game 2.
Next: NBA Playoffs 2017: 5 keys to Wizards vs. Hawks matchup
This was a win that Washington can get excited about. Though the Wizards let the Hawks stay around for far too long, they seem to have an extra gear that Atlanta just can’t get to. As for Atlanta, this loss is slightly worse than the seven-point defeat indicates. The turnovers were rampant and the Hawks could have clobbered the Wizards on the boards if they could have played with a higher level of focus. The better team clearly won on Easter Sunday.