The Atlanta Hawks spent much of their first round series against the Brooklyn Nets doing their best to make everyone forget the juggernaut they had been for much of the regular season. Maybe they were banged up, and maybe they took a few games to snap themselves out of their March and April coast to the finish, but they began to look like the top seed again in Games 5 and 6 to finish off Brooklyn. And now they’ve come out in Round 2 against Washington with guns blazing.
That’s reserves Dennis Schröder and Mike Scott running a fast break to perfection (thanks to Vinnyviner) against the Wizards, who hadn’t played in six days since they finished off their sweep of the Toronto Raptors and looked like they weren’t ready to face a team that was actually executing properly on offense. (Mike Scott loves dunking on the Wizards.) The starters are also getting in on the action, too. Just check out Jeff Teague’s filthy bounce pass to a streaking DeMarre Carroll (who has burst into flames from beyond the arc so far as well):
The Hawks went into halftime up 63-53 on the Wizards, who had a serious scare when their star point guard John Wall went down with an ugly-looking wrist injury.
Wall somehow managed to remain in the game, but he’s going to need to be at his absolute best if the Wizards are going to keep up with the soaring Hawks.
Atlanta’s first half has taken a tumble in the fourth, with the Wiz leading 95-91 with a little over four minutes to go.