Hawks 116

Wizards 98

April 22, 2017, Philips Arena Atlanta, Georgia

Frankly put, Game 3 went horribly, horribly wrong for Washington. They played garbage
defense, did not shoot the ball well, and never could get in a long run without Atlanta
immediately punching them back right in the mouth. That said, it is one game, the Wizards are
still in the drivers seat with a 2-1 series advantage and would happily take a split on the road if
they are able to win on Monday.

Washington simply could not get over the hump.

Yes, a 25 point first quarter deficit is a huge hole to try and dig yourself out of, but it is doable.
We saw that from Cleveland last night. The Wizards themselves had 17 double-digit comebacks
in the regular season. Twice in the second half, Washington looked poised to cut the deficit to
single-digits, but they simply could not get over the hump. The Wizards went on a 10-2 run to
get things to a semi-manageable 71-58 Atlanta lead, but the Hawks responded with a 10-2 run of
their own. Then, Washington went on a 15-3 run to get things to a 93-81 deficit. Atlanta then
responded with a 9-0 run to wrap things up early.

Bradley Beal had another slow start, but this time did not bounce back.
In the first two games of the series, Washingtons shooting guard started 3 of 12 and 6 of 18 from
the field before finishing each game by making 6 of his last 9. Tonight, he got off to another cold
start, 1 of 6 from the field, and Washington got in a 38-13 hole. The third time was the charm for
Atlanta in terms of containing Beal late as he finished the game a cold 6 of 20 from the field. For
just the fifth time this season, and second time against the Hawks via the season opener, and first
time in his playoff career, Beal did not make a three-point field goal despite six attempts. In the
2014 and 2015 playoffs, a new level of Bradley Beal basketball was unveiled but the Wizards
have yet to see that proficiency in the 2017 postseason.

John Wall could have used some help.

At halftime, Wall had 21 points on 7 of 8 shooting and finished the game with 29 points on 10 of
12 shooting. If it were not for Scott Brooks pulling the starters early, he would have joined
Antwan Jamison, Gilbert Arenas, and Jeff Malone as the only players in team history to score 30
points in three straight playoff games. The downside for the Wizards was that the rest of the
starting five was just 14 of 45, 21.1 percent, shooting from the field for 30 points. Otto Porter Jr.
left the game early with a neck strain and Marcin Gortat had just one bucket after back-to-back
double-doubles. It is rare to see a team win a playoff game with only one player playing well and
that was what came back to bite Washington and prevent them from taking a nearly series dagger
3-0 lead.

The Wizards three-point shooting is starting to become troubling.

In this series so far, Washington is 22 of 79 from beyond the arc. That is a miserable 27.8
percent, which is a 9.4 percent less than the 37.2 percent that the Wizards shot from deep in the
regular season. It was clear that the shot was not falling for Washington tonight, but they did not
adjust by attacking the paint. The Hawks had a 60-34 advantage in the paint and the non-Wall
starters did not even earn a single trip to the free throw line, likely because of a lack of
aggressiveness and settling for jump shots.

https://twitter.com/NeilDalal96/status/855944809730772993

Another Wizard struggling with his three-point shot is Bojan Bogdanovic. The trade deadline
acquisition is 1 of 10 from beyond the arc in the series and finished the regular season just 12 of
43, 27.9 percent, from deep. Should Otto Porter, who has also had a significant drop off in three-
point efficiency since the All-Star Break, miss time, Bogdanovic may be pressed into more
playing time, which would mean Washington would need for him to break out of his extended
slump that much more.

Silver linings; Brandon Jennings starting to be an offensive scoring threats.

His defense is still highly suspect as he is letting 35-year-old Jose Calderon blow by him on
simple drives to the rim without having to make a counter move to allow time for help defense,
but at least he is starting to find his shot on the other end of the court. In his first 24 games with
Washington, including Game 1, Jennings was a miserable 29 of 108, 26.9 percent, shooting from
the field. In the past two games, the midseason signing is 8 of 11 from the field including some
nice step back jump shots. If he is at least able to balance out his points allowed with point
scored, then that is a win for the Wizards moving forward.