Hawks hold serve with win over Wizards, 111-101: 3 takeaways from Game 4
By John Buhler
The Atlanta Hawks handled their business in Game 4 with a 111-101 win over the Washington Wizards to tie the series at 2-2. Here are three big takeaways.
After a strong Game 3 win over the Washington Wizards on Saturday 116-98, the Atlanta Hawks did what they needed to do to win Game 4 at home on Monday night. The Hawks held serve on Washington 111-101 to tie the best-of-seven first-round series at two games apiece.
The home team has won all four games in this Eastern Conference Quarterfinals. Washington won Games 1 and 2 by single digits at the Verizon Center. Atlanta defeated Washington by double digits at Philips Arena in Games 3 and 4.
With the series all tied up at two, let’s take a look at the three big takeaways from Atlanta’s big home win in Game 4:
Takeaways
When Dennis Schroder gets in foul trouble, you have to lean on Jose Calderon. Having to go up against John Wall every night at point guard was a tall task for Atlanta’s Dennis Schroder. Though he’s not going to outplay Wall at any point in this series, he had been able to hold his own against Wall’s point guard Wizardry.
However, it was not looking good for Schroder in the first half of this game. Poor shooting and early foul trouble had him riding pine for most of the first half. Normally, that should have sank the Atlanta offense. Fortunately for the Hawks, backup point guard Jose Calderon had his best game in Atlanta uniform in Monday night.
Calderon played 20 big minutes with 10 points, five assists and two rebounds. He was the emotional spark plug for the Hawks in this game. Calderon was a staggering 29 points in the positive in terms of plus/minus. The next closest guy to him was teammate Kent Bazemore at +13. Without Calderon’s on-court, Atlanta doesn’t win this game and would be facing elimination on the road in Game 5.
Washington wants to win on the wing, not pound in the paint. The way this series has played out so far is that Washington is winning in the backcourt while Atlanta is annihilating the Wizards in the frontcourt. Washington center Marcin Gortat may have had a game-high 18 rebounds, but two points from a starting center is unacceptable.
The Wizards are not getting points down low from their power forwards or centers. That’s not good, but they are more than making up for it out on the wing with their beastly backcourt. Wall had a rather pedestrian 22 points, 10 assists and five rebounds. It really came down to shooting guard Bradley Beal having an excellent shooting night for Washington to at least stay in this game.
Beal had a game-high 32 points on 11-23 shooting. However, he was a high-volume shooter from three, connecting on only five of his 14 attempts from distance. Small forward Otto Porter and bench wing Bojan Bogdanovic both had 13 points. Nobody else on Washington scored in double figures.
Paul Millsap defeated Markieff Morris in the Battle of the Crybabies. For whatever reason, frustrated Washington power forward Markieff Morris called out Hawks power forward Paul Millsap for being ‘a crybaby’ after Game 3’s loss. Millsap is a soft-spoken, four-time NBA All-Star. Morris once threw a towel at his former head coach Jeff Hornacek while with the Phoenix Suns.
That post-game jab at Millsap only blew up in Morris’ face. Millsap would come to life when Atlanta needed him most in the fourth quarter of Game 4. The Hawks kept feeding Millsap the ball to go to work in isolation. He out-muscled and out-hustled Morris in the final frame, finishing with 19 points, nine rebounds, seven assists and two steals.
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Millsap only shot 40 percent from the field, but did hit the most memorable shot from the game. He collected a rebound in the middle of all the action in the paint. As he fell to the Philips Arena hardwood, Millsap would sink a ridiculous and-one in winning time. Morris continues to have a dreadful first-round series. He finished with nine points on 3-10 shooting, five fouls, four rebounds and two assists.