Atlanta Hawks Take On Washington Wizards In Second Round

Whew!  I can’t even begin to say how happy I am that the Atlanta Hawks crushed the Brooklyn Nets last night in Game 6.  All is right in the basketball world for the ATL.  The Hawks advance to the second round for the first time in four seasons.  While the Atlanta Hawks have never made it to an Eastern Finals since conference realignment of the 1970’s, Coach Bud’s team could make history when his team takes on divisional rival Washington Wizards in round two.

In the four regular season games between the Hawks and the Wiz, Atlanta came away victorious in all but one contest, the third to last game of the season when Coach Bud rested all five starters on the road in DC.  Coach Buds’ Hawks team could routinely get all the points they wanted in the paint as Washington big men Marcin Gortat and Nene lack the lateral quickness to effectively guard Al Horford or Paul Millsap.  Offensively the Wizards aren’t nearly as fluid with their ball movement as Atlanta and can often find themselves struggling to score.

But that doesn’t mean the Atlanta Hawks should take their Southeastern rival lightly in the Eastern Semifinals.  Washington annihilated a Toronto Raptors team in the opening round.  The Wizards are playing their best basketball of the season.  With Future Hall of Famer Paul Pierce moving to stretch four in the first round, The Truth was able to shower terrifying meteors all over Jurassic Park from beyond the arc.  The Raptors post All-Star break collapse might mean the end of the current incarnation of the Drakes as Toronto GM Masai Ujiri looks to move his team into the Cretaceous Period.

Was Washington really that good in round one or was Toronto really that terrible?  It’s definitely a bit of both.  Atlanta has to carry the energy over defensively from a hard-fought battle with the Brooklyn Nets into the second round.  Kyle Korver thinks the difficulty Atlanta had putting Brooklyn away helps the team go into round two with more focus.

Hawks players that need to play well against Washington include starters Al Horford and Jeff Teague and bench players Dennis Schroder and Kent Bazemore.  Horford seems like his pinky finger is starting to feel better as he looks more comfortable from mid-range with his patented set shot.  Teague will have to go tit for tat with fellow Eastern Conference All-Star PG John Wall.  This matchup at point guard is the most intriguing storyline of the Hawks-Wizards Eastern Conference Semifinals matchup.

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Dennis Schroder did not have a good series against Brooklyn.  Brook Lopez and Mason Plumlee made life difficult for him in the paint.  I do believe that Washington’s front court isn’t as formidable for the young German PG when he drives to the basket.  Expect him to have a bounce back series.

Kent Bazemore, I’m proud of how hard you worked guarding Brooklyn’s perimeter threats in the opening round.  Guarding Joe Johnson or Bojan Bogdanovic wasn’t easy.  I don’t care if you make a single basket in this series so long as you annoy Bradley Beal, Otto Porter, and possibly Paul Pierce out on the perimeter every possession.  DeMarre and Kyle will help you neutralize the Wizard jump shooters.  You’ve got this.

Finally, I think Atlanta needs to see another haymaker dunk from Mike Scott over the Wizards.  The Washington Wizards will head south to take on your Atlanta Hawks, Sunday 1PM ET in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference Semifinals matchup.