Wizards on brink
Washington guard Bradley Beal (above, right) has the Wizards on the brink of closing out Atlanta in the first round of their NBA Eastern Conference playoff matchup. Beal scored 27 points and John Wall added 20 points and 14 assists to power Washington to a 103-99 victory and a 3-2 lead in their best-of-7 series.
WASHINGTON — John Wall figured the credit went to the down-the-stretch defense displayed by his Washington Wizards.
Neither Dennis Schroder nor Coach Mike Budenholzer found any flaws with the way their Atlanta Hawks handled things late.
Either way, the odd manner in which Atlanta seemed to allow the final half-minute or so to slip away while trailing — not fouling Washington to try to extend things; passing around the ball, instead of shooting it, as the clock headed toward zero — left the Wizards on the verge of closing out the teams’ Eastern Conference first-round playoff series.
Back at home, and back in charge, Bradley Beal scored 27 points, and Wall added 20 points and 14 assists, leading Washington to a 103-99 victory in Game 5 on Wednesday night for a 3-2 series lead.
“I thought they were going to play the foul game — or at least try to trap. But they let us run the clock down,” Wall said, noting that he felt as if he and his teammates finished “with the best scrambling defense we had.”
Schroder led the Hawks with 29 points, making a career high-tying five threes, and 11 assists. But after his basket from beyond the arc pulled Atlanta within 101-99 with 70 seconds left, Wall responded with a 21foot pull-up jumper. Neither team would score the rest of the way.
“It was right there,” Schroder said. “We’ve just got to be better in crunch time.”
A miss followed from Paul Millsap, who had 21 points and 11 rebounds, but after Wall’s jumper was off the mark, the Hawks never managed to put the ball in the basket — including sort of fiddling around as if they didn’t realize they were trailing by four.
“We tried to get a clean look,” Tim Hardaway Jr. said, “but they just did a good job of … making it tough on us.” Budenholzer’s take? “I’m not, off the top of my head, frustrated with what we got offensively,” he said.
Washington can reach the conference semifinals by winning Game 6 at Atlanta on Friday night.
“It’s got to be us,” Budenholzer said, “that’s the aggressor.”
As it is, the series has been filled with physical play, referee whistles and smack talk, including a “crybaby” accusation and a comparison to MMA fighting.
Dwight Howard — who finally came to the fore in Game 4 with 16 points and 15 rebounds — didn’t play much in the second half, picking up his fourth foul with 2½ minutes left in the third quarter and his fifth off the ball with 8½ minutes to go.