Sorry to burst your bubble, top-seeded Atlanta Hawks, but you have to burst the Washington Wizards’ bubble. Tonight, preferably.

Down 1-0, the Hawks can’t afford to put up a Stinko de Mayo and then explain it away with “Welp! It bees like dat sometimes.” “We got good looks, they just didn’t go in,” and “We just didn’t make shots,” are explanations quite suitable for wheelchair basketball tryouts. But these were familiar refrains from Hawks players and staff alike, after this NBA team fumbled away a 12-point Game 1 lead in the second half at Philips Arena.

“We’ll try to make our layups this time!” isn’t a catchphrase that will draw ravenous fans to the Highlight Factory, the scene for Game 2 (8:00 PM Eastern, TNT, 92.9 FM in ATL) of this second-round playoff series. The Wizards are on a roll with five consecutive playoff victories, and need the wind taken out of their sails in advance of the three-day layoff that precedes Game 3 back in the District of Columbia.

After a Kyle Korver three-pointer widened the Atlanta lead to 12 in the opening moments of the third quarter of Game 1, successive blown shots from point-blank range by Korver, Jeff Teague, and Al Horford proved infectious. Nine consecutive misses by Atlanta, and heady all-around play by John Wall, allowed the Wizards to narrow the deficit. Eight more blanks on Atlanta field goal attempts to open the fourth-quarter helped the Wizards coast to the front.

Late foul trouble by Horford rendered the Hawks ineffective on defense against Marcin Gortat (seven Wizard points via his offensive rebounds). As Atlanta tried to compensate by crowding around the paint, the end of the game proved to be Wall Time, as John Wall either scored or assisted on Washington’s 15 points in the closing seven-and-a-half minutes, largely due to effective dribble penetration.

Meanwhile, Teague went 1-for-5 on shots and contributed no assists during this critical stretch. He and Dennis Schröder have to use their quickness to take Wall’s drive-and-kick game away and force more turnovers from the Wizards’ All-Star point guard (13 assists, 2 TOs). The Wizards committed just seven TOs in Game 1, and just three of those turnovers came by way of Atlanta steals (none by the Hawk guards) , negating Atlanta’s trademark transition offense.

The Hawks once could rely on Randy Wittman to coax his Wizards into a cavalcade of inefficient long-rage two-point jumpers. Not so much anymore. The Wizards got just 18.5% of their offense in the regular season beyond the three-point line (4^th lowest in NBA). They’ve flipped the script so far by upping that percentage to 28.6% (5^th highest in NBA Playoffs) during the postseason.

On their way to a sweep (and ample time to prepare for the next round), Washington put the Raptors on slow-boil by hitting six, then ten, then 12, then 15 triples in the series, the latter amount the most they’ve made in a game all season. They made nine in Game 1 at Atlanta, including a back-breaking open corner shot from Otto Porter that just about put the game away.

Reserves Porter (10 points, 11 rebounds in Game 1), Ramon Sessions and Drew Gooden (2-for-3 3FGs, 4-for-4 FTs, 12 points and 5 boards) know their roles in the playoffs, and that is to help with the rebounding and hit uncontested shots to take some pressure off of their starters. The Hawks have to raise the degree of difficulty on Paul Pierce and the Wizard shooters by contesting (without fouling, it bears repeating) players camping out in the corners and from the top of the arc.

The only Washington starter to finish on the positive side of the plus-minus ledger, Bradley Beal led the Wizards with 28 points, but much of that contribution came with the help of five drawn shooting fouls (8-for-10 FTs). He was his usual inefficient self on the floor (7-for-17 2FGs), but outshined Kyle Korver (3-for-11 3FGs), whose shots mostly came in desperation to try and break the Hawks’ recurring dry spells. Beal (ankle) and Wall (wrist) suffered injuries during the game, but played through them and are unlikely to have trouble running the offense in Game 2.

DeMarre Carroll was en fuego in the first half (7-for-9 FGs), but the Wizards adjusted in ways Atlanta did not, and open shots were harder to come by for JYD (1-for-4 FGs in the second half). Washington tenderized four of the Hawks’ starters into aggravations of old injuries in the first half, and when the second half began the lineup, infused throughout the game with bench players until the very end, could not regain their rhythm for any significant stretches.

The Hawks claim a desire to be more “aggressive” in Game 2, by setting up more shots around the rim (and, one presumes, making them). But against a team as stingy as the Wizards are in ceding points-in-the-paint, the haymaker layups and floaters have to be preceded by body-blows from their big men outside the paint.

Horford and Paul Millsap (32 combined points; 29 rebounds, 12 offensive) were just 1-for-13 outside the paint in Game 1. While the duo tried to compensate by making the passes their floor leaders could not (15 of Atlanta’s 27 assists; 7 of the Hawks’ 12 TOs), their unique ability to use their range to draw Washington’s bigs outside was non-existent in Game 1. Both guys need to get it going to make things simpler for their colleagues on the floor in Game 2.

Coach Mike Budenholzer often looks as if he’s out to prove he can win games with one arm tied behind his back -- an arm he’s personally tied down himself. While it’s unrealistic to expect the Hawks’ starters to go 40-plus minutes together, until it’s proven otherwise, Coach Bud can only rely on the backups to keep opponents at bay for very short stretches.

Budenholzer was immediately questioned in the postgame presser for Atlanta’s starting five on the floor together for just 18 minutes of Game 1. Teague’s first-quarter ankle re-aggravation necessitated the entry of Dennis Schröder, who was tremendous (two close-range buckets, an offensive rebound and assist) in the final four minutes of the first quarter. But none of Atlanta’s bench corps were effective beyond the opening quarter, facilitating the Wizards’ erosion of the lead. It was a scenario similar to Atlanta, occasionally, in the prior series with the Nets– the starters dominate the pace and the action, but only get back in together once it’s time to wrest it all back.

Coach Bud perhaps waited too long to re-insert five-foul Horford, replacing an increasingly overwhelmed Pero Antić, as the outcome hung in the balance, just as he probably waited until it was too late to foul in the closing minute of the game, when Wall’s dish to Gortat sealed the deal for Washington. While it is admirable to entrust one’s players to beat the odds, and Game 1 is the best time for experimentation as any, there’s no need for Houdini tactics from the sideline when there are playoff games to be won.

While he rarely ever admits adjustments, expect Coach Bud to quietly shift to longer stints for his Big Five and shorter, more strategic roles for the Hawk reserves in Game 2. On this Cinco de Mayo, there are just five Hawk gringos capable of breaking the Wizards’ magical spell. Well, four, plus Al Horford.

Let’s Go Hawks!

~lw3