Is some more Capitol Punishment in store for the Atlanta Hawks?

On Friday night, tonight’s host, the Washington Wizards (37-35, 6^th seed in Eastern Conference), took an Indiana Pacers team (that leads the East and was smelling themselves a bit after besting the defending champion Miami Heat) and waxed them in a wire-to-wire 91-78 victory at the Verizon Center. They held the Pacers to 35.4 FG%, their best defensive effort of the year.

Up until now, the Wizards have been less than impressive at the Phone Booth, last night’s big win raising their record to just 18-17 at home. Still within four games of the Toronto Raptors with ten games to play, a first-round home series for Head Coach Randy Wittman’s crew is not out of the question. But home-court advantage will be out-of-reach if they don’t take care of business in their remaining seven home games, especially against floundering teams like the Hawks (31-40, losers in their last five).

Atlanta has been taking the Alfred E. Neuman approach to their latest string of suckitude, but the lack of anxiety in Head Coach Mike Budenholzer’s locker room continues to display itself on the floor, especially when they’re getting outclassed in the second half. They recognize they’re pretty much sunk without either of floor-spreading Kyle Korver (back spams) or primary defensive option DeMarre Carroll (undisclosed illness, gametime decision) in the mix. Perhaps for the sake of competitive strategery, the Hawks left open the possibility that Korver, left back home in ATL, may still pull a Terry Taylor and fly into the fray at the last minute to help save his teammates-in-dire-straits. But nobody’s fooled by the prospect of that happening.

They will have Macedonian lamppost Pero Antić (ankle sprain) available up front. But his persistent concerns of re-re-aggravating his ankle seems to have stunted the big man’s interests in scoring in the paint. In the last three games, his effective field goal percentage was a paltry 29.4%, down from 58.4% in his prior nine games since returning from his stress-fractured ankle. 65.4% of his shots are from three-point range since the All-Star break (32.8 3FG%), up from 56.3% before his injury in January (36.7 3FG%).

Antić can help Jeff Teague and the Hawks backcourt’s cause by rolling to the basket, rather than hanging around the edge for the pops and shot fakes, and take advantage of the Wizards’ inferior interior, which has been missing Nene for the past month. The Brazilian big man’s MCL sprain was supposed to plummet the Wizards’ postseason hopes, but Wittman has been able to hold this team together with a patchwork of Trevor Booker (52.7 FG% and 2.1 offensive RPG since starting at power forward), late-season pickup Drew Gooden, and Al Harrington.

Drew, in particular, has been Gooden Plenty off the bench with double-digit scoring in eight of his last 12 games. Mike Scott must measurably outpace the Wizards’ reserves for the Hawks to have a chance in this contest.

John Wall did most of the heavy lifting on offense last night versus Indiana, managing 20 points and 8 assists without getting much complementary production out of Trevor Ariza or Bradley Beal (combined 4-for-25 FGs). Wall’s improved range (35.7 3FG%) has elevated him to become a consistent 20+ PPG scorer, making the backcourt pairing with Beal (41.3 3FG%, just 40.1 2FG%) less two-dimensional in their second season together.

Beal has been hampered recently by a hip-pointer, but logged 35 minutes last night while shooting. Tonight, look for the Wizards to use more of backups Andre Miller (11 minutes last night off the bench), still smoldering since his frustrating final months in Denver, and Martell Webster (8-for-17 on three-pointers vs. Atlanta this season). If Carroll isn't around, Atlanta will need someone capable of going out and contesting three-point shots at the corners (Beal, Ariza, Webster), while Teague closes out on Wall and keeps him honest above-the-break.

Without bigs able to stretch the floor and limited artillery options along the perimeter, Washington shoots the most mid-range two-point shots (27.4 per game) in the league. Those shot selections will suit the Hawks just fine, as the Wizards connect on just 37.5% of those shots (22^nd in NBA). What will be critical is for Elton Brand (20 points and 11 boards vs. Washington on February 19), Paul Millsap and Antić to keep Marcin Gortat and Washington’s power forward corps off the offensive glass, then setting up Teague (10-for-18 FGs versus Portland on Thursday) and Lou Williams (10-for-18 on 2FGs last four games) for outlets and scores in transition.

Go Hawks!

~lw3