Hawks - Wizards

[lethalweapon3]

Not the Washington Wizards again! The 3-18 Wiz arrive back home at the Verizon Center after two nights’ rest, but it’s hard to hear them now after a 30-point drubbing in Miami, their fifth defeat in six games.

John Wall is still not coming through that door! His knee prognosis has gone from a month of time off to uncertain. And the Wizards have been swimming up creek without their leading rebounder (Nene, sore foot, day-to-day but expected back tonight), leading stealer (Trevor Ariza, calf strain) and leading passer (A.J. Price, fractured hand, out 4-6 weeks). Another opening-day starter, Trevor Booker, remains out for another week with a strained knee.

There are only so many rabbits Coach Randy Wittman can pull out of this hat. It would help if he could get some veterans (Emeka Okafor, Martell Webster, Shaun Livingston) to grab the reins and step up their game offensively, or for some of the young prospect talents (Jan Vesely, Chris Singleton) to emerge. But from game to game, they’re barely blips on the screen.

Without them, Wittman is relying on Jordan Crawford, rookie Bradley Beal, third-year hook-shot master Kevin Seraphin and fifth-year wing Cartier Martin to keep them in games. With four games in five nights ahead of the Wizards, that’s a tall order.

Martin has been one of the few bright spots in the Wizards’ last two losses. He led them in scoring against the Lakers with 21 points (5-for-11 on threes), then dropped 19 on the HEAT (4-for-6 on threes). Also he hasn’t drawn many trips to the line, he’s one of a small handful of NBA players that has yet to miss a free throw (10-for-10). It has to be tempting to get him into the starting lineup soon.

Crawford is back below 40 percent shooting again, after a productive stretch (19.9 PPG on 44.4 FG%) that lasted two weeks and earned him a spot back in the starting lineup. He’s shooting 31 percent in his last four games. Miami put the clamps on him on Saturday (5 points, 2-for-12 shooting in 34 minutes) after he led Washington’s upset home win against the HEAT on Dec. 4 (22 points, 7-for-16 shooting in 31 minutes). With the injury to Price and Wall out of action, Crawford again becomes the team’s primary playmaker. He’s averaged 5.7 assists this month, and was averaging just 2.0 turnovers per game before racking up 6 against Miami.

Back on the bench in favor of Singleton and Okafor, Seraphin has been probably the biggest thorn in the Hawks’ side, averaging 20 PPG and 8.5 RPG in the first two contests. Four of his paltry 17 blocks on the season have come against the Hawks (just 2 blocks in the 5 games since the last game at Atlanta). He’s made big shots late in both games, either to pull the Wizards to draw within a basket or take the lead. It will help if Atlanta can draw a few fouls on him early, throwing some bigs at him in post-ups while drawing him as a help defender from driving guards.

After having his lunch eaten by David Lee and the Warriors, it’s a perfect time for Josh Smith (3 points on 1-for-12 shooting vs. Golden State) to chow down against the Wizards. During Player-of-the-Week week, Smoove’s 15 rebounds (6 offensive) against them on December 7 were a season high. His last loss in a regular season game against the Wizards, you ask? January 11, 2008. DeShawn Stevenson had 19 for D.C. in that game, which also had appearances from Hawks Acie Law IV, Anthony Johnson, and the late Lorenzen Wright.

DeShawn may be rested tonight in preparation for KD coming to town tomorrow. Stevenson’s five three-pointers were just enough to keep the Wizards at arm’s length in the last matchup. But he and the Hawk guards have been turning cold from the 3-point line in the past week. Excepting John Jenkins in a garbage-time role, the combination of Jeff Teague, Kyle Korver, Stevenson, Lou Williams, Devin Harris, and Anthony Morrow are a combined 27-for-85 (31.8 percent) on three-pointers in their last four games. Morrow will be unavailable with a sore back, so expect a lot more floor time for Korver and Devin tonight.

Washington’s overall defensive efficiency (102.1 opponent points per 100 possessions; 97.5 points per game; 53.1% total shooting) is actually a little better than Miami’s (102.4; 98.1; 53.5%). When opponents find a way to get the ball to the rim (23.4 FGAs/game, 2^nd fewest in NBA) they’re experiencing little resistance, shooting 68.4% (2^nd highest in NBA). Same deal on short-range shots -- second-fewest shots taken (7.2) but second-highest opposing FG% (44.7%). Meanwhile, their foes are shooting just 31% on long-range two-point jumpers (lowest in the league), and yet they take the fourth most (22.1 FGAs/game).

It is amazing that a team that gets opponents to settle for outside shots has been this unsuccessful, but that’s because their own offensive efficiency has been so wretched (93.4 points per 100 possessions, only NBA team below 95). Especially the way the Hawks have been shooting as of late from that range, though, it’s time to try something different. This is an ideal game to attack from the paint some more, both on post-ups and assisted buckets.

Go Hawks!

~lw3

[Admin]

Great write up as always! I don't know if I will watch this game or not as that Warriors drubbing plus this being ANOTHER game against the Wizards has left me without much desire to tune in. But we'll see. Anything less than a 10 point win would be pretty disappointing for the Hawks though.

[Guest]

We are playing the Wizards again....good grief. Nothing to get excited about with this game at all, tired of playing these guys.

[MaceCase]

The schedule gets tougher right after this game so people should be appreciative of the chance to pad the win column some.

I'm most pissed off by the 7pm start. I was hoping for a nap.

[lethalweapon3]

Hey sawv, missed your request for an update at the half. (ATL 52-46)

Bradley Beal's-a-beasting (6-for-7).

Wizards staying in it with points off turnovers.

Kyle 3-for-3-from-3.

Ivan was a monster until he went out with a minor hand injury, got stitches between his fingers.

Devin out with a sore foot for the second half.

Tolliver came in and didn't suck.

~lw3

[Admin]

And Jordan Crawford is eating us for dinner. We look like we don't care to be playing tonight. No doubt in my mind that we lose this game and we're tied in the 4th with 2:29 to go as I'm posting this.

[Admin]

Wow way to go Josh! Air ball 3pt shawty and then drive into traffic, jump up and nearly throw the ball away with 2 seconds on the shot clock shawty. Someone needs to check to see if he has money on the Wizards this game.

[DrReality]

Airballs twice in OT. Terrible

[Admin]

Well that was a miracle that we pulled that out. Thankfully Deshawn and Lou saved us with big baskets late and Josh got away with that foul on Nene under the basket.

Jordan Crawford got the triple double against us, but I don't mind not having him on our team as he's terribly wild and inefficient.

[hawkrule152]

What an ugly game this was. But I think this will all give you a good laugh to shrug it off.. Its not basketball related, but its hilarious.

[MaceCase]

Well that was a miracle that we pulled that out. Thankfully Deshawn and Lou saved us with big baskets late and Josh got away with that foul on Nene under the basket.

Jordan Crawford got the triple double against us, but I don't mind not having him on our team as he's terribly wild and inefficient.

Yea, after 6 tries he was due to finally make us lament over trading him. Before the night he was averaging 9 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists on 36% shooting in 6 tries against the Hawks.

[Admin]

Well that was a miracle that we pulled that out. Thankfully Deshawn and Lou saved us with big baskets late and Josh got away with that foul on Nene under the basket. Jordan Crawford got the triple double against us, but I don't mind not having him on our team as he's terribly wild and inefficient. Yea, after 6 tries he was due to finally make us lament over trading him. Before the night he was averaging 9 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists on 36% shooting in 6 tries against the Hawks.

And he looks so awkward doing it too! Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk 2

[ftown]

i was just shocked we could pull this out...

its just a difference from last years team

we have any number of players that can come in and make a difference in a game

i do wish we didnt have an OT game with the league-leading Thunder coming in tommorow

ah well

Go Hawks!

[macdaddy]

We need to get a lot less sloppy and Horf needs to not pass up open jumpers. Especially in favor of a Josh open jumper.

[Gray Mule]

Ah, well.

He has a tripple double against his old team, yet he isn't

good enough to be here. He took us to overtime and

almost, single handedly, buried the Hawks.

He musn't be mentioned here by name. It is forbidden.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

The guy that Drew said isn't a PG, sure did look damn good in that role last night. Teague is the better player, but Jordan has always been the better passer ( when asked/forced to play that role ). Jordan plays this role better than the "volume scorer" role.Lucky to get that win last night. A win is a win though.

[Admin]

We need to get a lot less sloppy and Horf needs to not pass up open jumpers. Especially in favor of a Josh open jumper.

If Horford is having an awful shooting night like he was last night, I'd rather him pass up the shots as he's clearly thinking too much about his shot right now and not just shooting naturally like he has throughout his career.

[Admin]

The guy that Drew said isn't a PG, sure did look damn good in that role last night. Teague is the better player, but Jordan has always been the better passer ( when asked/forced to play that role ). Jordan plays this role better than the "volume scorer" role.Lucky to get that win last night. A win is a win though.

Problem is that Jordan cannot pass up taking dumb shots and cannot play without trying to make the "fancy" looking pass. That between the legs pass to I believe Okafor was flat out stupid last night and then there was another play late in the game where a simple pass would have gotten them a transition bucket but he held onto it for too long and they didn't end up scoring.

Yes we were very lucky to get the win last night and really didn't deserve it, but I'll take it.

Ah, well.

He has a tripple double against his old team, yet he isn't

good enough to be here. He took us to overtime and

almost, single handedly, buried the Hawks.

He musn't be mentioned here by name. It is forbidden.

Nah it hasn't been forbidden in over a year LOL

[itsslomotionbaby]

man i turned this game off with 5 minutes left rest assured we were going to lose this game b/c we looked listless. i went to watch inkmasters instead.

[MaceCase]

If Horford is having an awful shooting night like he was last night, I'd rather him pass up the shots as he's clearly thinking too much about his shot right now and not just shooting naturally like he has throughout his career.

But thing was that he was either telegraphing his passes once the Wizards realized he wasn't going to shoot at all, holding the ball too long forcing other guys into tougher shot situations with the shot clock or passing out of layup attempts for harder shots from others. In this regard Josh sometimes has the right idea, "you miss 100% of the shots you don't take", you have to at least get the defense to respect that you're still a threat to score even if you aren't hitting. Have that "Kobeitis" in that you may be 1-20 but goddamn it, you just might hit 8 of your next 10 if the defense decides to lay off you. In Al's case last night he was predominantly "self-checked" in the early quarters which is something that goes beyond the boxscore.