Game Thread: Wizards @ Hawks -- 12/18

[Jamaaliver]

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Someone has to win: Hawks-Wizards square off

Two of the coldest teams in the NBA get together on Tuesday night when the Atlanta Hawks host the Washington Wizards for the second time in a two-week period.

The Hawks (6-23) are coming off a three-game road trip that saw them drop a trio of games, most recently 144-127 to Brooklyn on Sunday. Atlanta has lost seven of its last eight games. The Wizards (12-18) saw their four-game losing streak end on Sunday when they beat the Los Angeles Lakers 128-110.

The Wizards beat the Hawks 131-117 on Dec. 5 in Atlanta. The two clubs split their four-games series a year ago.

Atlanta is trying to figure out how to get off to a better start. The Hawks have allowed 42 points in the first two quarters of their last two games, against the Celtics and Nets. Atlanta was never in the game against Boston, but got as close as eight points against Brooklyn before running out of gas.

"It's all about figuring a way to get us going," Bazemore said.

Atlanta's most consistent player has been second-year forward John Collins, who had his streak of double-doubles end at six on Sunday. Collins missed the first 15 games of the season with a left ankle injury. Since returning, he is averaging 17.7 points and 9.4 rebounds.
Bazemore, who had 20 points against the Nets, is averaging 12.9 points and rookie Trae Young is averaging 15.5 points and 7.1 assists. The club is missing Taurean Prince, their No. 3 scorer (15 points), who has missed four games with a left ankle sprain.

"The hole that we put ourselves in was a big issue," said first-year Atlanta coach Lloyd Pierce. "We just have a way of getting off to slow starts. For some reason, we don't have that urgency."

The Sports Xchange

[Jamaaliver]

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[graymule]

Lloyd: Time to teach defense is now!

[Jamaaliver]

3 Questions for Washington Wizards vs. Atlanta Hawks



Which Team Will Win the Pace Battle?

The Wizards and the Hawks are two of the fastest-playing teams in the league: Atlanta leads the NBA in pace at 105.2 possessions per 48 minutes, and Washington isn’t too far behind in seventh at 101.6 possessions. Tuesday night is expected to be yet another track meet between both squads, who scored 248 total points in their first meeting.

The young Hawks play fast in hopes of creating more opportunities and possessions for them to outscore their opponents. Of course, that also means you increase the chances for mistakes as well, especially for a team as inexperienced as Atlanta is. That should work in the Wizards’ favor.

The Hawks are committing a league-high 18 turnovers per game, almost two whole turnovers more than the second-worst Suns. Rookie point guard Trae Young is sixth in the league at 3.9 per game, and had 6 in their loss to the Wizards earlier this month. Combine that with the fact that the Wizards are fourth in forcing opponent turnovers and eighth in steals per game, and the Wizards could make it a long night for Young and the Hawks. The Wizards also rank in the top 10 in points off turnovers (18.6) and fast-break points (14.5) per game.



Can Wall and Beal Keep Up Their Stellar Play?

Beal comes into Tuesday’s contest riding an eight-game streak of 20-plus points. Over that span, he’s putting up 27.5 points per game on 48-percent shooting and 37 percent from the three-point line.

As for Wall, he’s on a tear over his last three games. He’s averaging 30.3 points, 4.3 rebounds, 13.3 assists, 2 steals, and 1 block per game.



Which Bench Unit Will Contribute the Most?

Another area where they share this is scoring from their bench.

The Hawks and Wizards rank fourth and 10th, respectively, in bench-scoring points per game. While neither has a prospective Sixth Man of the Year Award winner on the roster, both teams do present a balanced scoring output from its reserves.

the Hawks main reserves are quite the mishmash of players ranging from a one-time sensation (Jeremy Lin, averaging 10.6 points per game off the bench), a grizzled veteran (Vince Carter, 7.1 points per game), and a versatile youngster (DeAndre’ Bembry, 8.6 points per game). None of these players should give the Wizards too much trouble, but if the Hawks bench is too much for the Wizards to handle, it likely won’t result in a win for Washington.

WIZARDS Fansided

[Jamaaliver]

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[Jamaaliver]

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[macd-gm]

Is Ariza going to play PF for the Wiz. Aren't wall/beal/porter cemented in the starting lineup or is porter hurt?

[Jamaaliver]

Is Ariza going to play PF for the Wiz. Aren't wall/beal/porter cemented in the starting lineup or is porter hurt?

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[Atlanta Hawk Fan]

Which Team Will Win the Pace Battle?

The Wizards and the Hawks are two of the fastest-playing teams in the league: Atlanta leads the NBA in pace at 105.2 possessions per 48 minutes, and Washington isn’t too far behind in seventh at 101.6 possessions. Tuesday night is expected to be yet another track meet between both squads, who scored 248 total points in their first meeting.

The young Hawks play fast in hopes of creating more opportunities and possessions for them to outscore their opponents. Of course, that also means you increase the chances for mistakes as well, especially for a team as inexperienced as Atlanta is. That should work in the Wizards’ favor.

The Hawks are committing a league-high 18 turnovers per game, almost two whole turnovers more than the second-worst Suns. Rookie point guard Trae Young is sixth in the league at 3.9 per game, and had 6 in their loss to the Wizards earlier this month. Combine that with the fact that the Wizards are fourth in forcing opponent turnovers and eighth in steals per game, and the Wizards could make it a long night for Young and the Hawks. The Wizards also rank in the top 10 in points off turnovers (18.6) and fast-break points (14.5) per game.

Umm...what? There is no pace battle here. A pace battle is like between the old Suns and Grizzlies - two teams with very different preferred paces battling to see who will impose their will on the game and run at their preferred pace. Both teams here will want to run as fast as possible. No conflict unless one team deviates from their standard game plan.

[Spud2nique]

The Wizards are a questionable franchise that makes questionable moves. Having said that, Ariza will come in and save their season. I’m usually not sold on a trade until each parties players play, but grabbing Ariza was the absolute BEST move for the Wizards. I wouldn’t be surprised if this elevated them to top 4 in the east by the time it’s all said n done.

Caveat: I’m a huuuuuge Ariza fan. I like what he brought to the Lakers back in the day. He is just a guy that fits in and knows his role well.

Ok I’m gonna sign off now before I ask him out...geez...I’m smitten over this cat. (Drool)..

[Spud2nique]

Is Ariza going to play PF for the Wiz. Aren't wall/beal/porter cemented in the starting lineup or is porter hurt?

Yes one of Wilt’s many sons is out for the week.

[Spud2nique]

Lloyd: Time to teach defense is now!

I fully agree with this! We are rebuilding, that’s a given, but that does not exclude anyone from doing their job to the best of their abilities. Here’s looking at you Lloyd!

[Hazer]

Pick it up on D, but keep up the losing! Just make it competitive and entertaining viewing, double-doubles from Ice Trae and J-Bap would be nice. As would The Huert catching fire from deep and maintaining his Tenacious D. In summary: turn up the D CLP, turn up the heat Trae/Kev/John, turn up lottery odds Hawks!

[ducler]

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[hawkmanreturns]

^^^The only Hawks player who has a clear advantage over his opponent is Collins. Feed him and fan him. Oh, and can we maybe pretend to play some defense tonight guys? When I say "pretend" I mean actually move your feet and get your hand above your shoulder when lazily closing out on open shooters. Just looking at an open shooter with bad intentions is not going to make him miss. I know it's a lot to ask, but I thought I'd just throw that out there.

[lethalweapon3]

When the Washington Wizards whooped up on the LeBrongeles Lakers on Sunday, the game concluded with a bigger winning margin than when they last visited the Atlanta Hawks just two weeks ago. Those also happened to be Washington’s last two victories, with an intervening four-game losing skid that included defeats at Cleveland and Brooklyn. The Wizards hope tonight’s visit to State Farm Arena (7:30 PM Eastern, Fox Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, NBC Sports Washington) will prove to be a bigger springboard than the last one.

Wall went orbs-to-the-wall in his showdown with LeBron’s road-weary bunch, ringing up 40 points, 14 assists and leaving the refs so stunned they were unable to notice the defensive pass interference penalty he applied to Lonzo Ball at the rim.

The week before, his running buddy Bradley Beal was named Leastern Conference Player of the Week, in part for leading the Wiz (sans Wall) with 36 points (10-for-13 FTs) and 9 assists here at The Funny Farm to a 131-117 victory on December 5. This honor for Beal came despite his going 2-for-7 on threes and committing 4 turnovers in a 15-point loss at The Q, the returning Wall (0-for-5 FGs) getting outclassed by Collin Sexton (29 points and 6 assists).

That loss was the first of four defeats for the Wizards. Then America’s GM, Ernie Grunfeld, caught one more L.

I’m trying to find a way we can get ex-Hawk Jason Collins back on the 15-man roster, so we can swing a deal with Ernie. His Who’s On First dialogues, while facilitating the trade for the Laker-averse Suns’ Trevor Ariza, succeeded in making both Memphis’ and Phoenix’s management regimes look even more hapless than they already were. ‘Tis a shame for the Hawks (6-23) that the Nuggets got to Nick Young first, and I’m not so sure Ernie thought he was negotiating with Juwan Howard over the summer. What’s Tayshaun Prince up to these days?

Yet despite the chuckles we all had over this weekend’s last-names mixup (“Brooks Was Here!”), Grunfeld might finally be getting the last laugh. The Sh__show Redemption, perhaps?

He managed to keep Phoenix on the phone long enough to secure the services of Ariza, who makes his grand return to the Wizards in the starting lineup tonight. The 3-and-D veteran Ariza (3.5 APG for PHX, most in his career since 2009-10; 5.3 D-Rebs per game, most since 2012-13) replacing the outgoing Austin Rivers and Kelly Oubre (two lowest players in coach Scott Brooks’ rotations for WS/48) is a win-win for all proponents of efficiency.

Fourth-lowest on the team in win-share efficiency (just ahead of Markieff Morris) was Jason Smith, and while the players admitted they’ll miss his role as a clubhouse glue-guy, they’ve quickly grown pleased with his effective replacement. The introduction of Olivia Dekker’s lesser half, Sam, to the Wizards (part of a cap-clearing, three-team deal a couple weeks ago) sure looked like a marriage made in heaven on Sunday. He contributed 20 points (10-for-13 2FGs), 4 assists and 3 steals in 22 bench minutes, enlivening what was otherwise a dormant contribution by the Wizards’ reserves against Los Angeles.

Backing up Dwight Howard’s backside by acquiring backup Thomas (“Stop calling me Kobe, Ernie!”) Bryant off waivers has proven to be yet another wise move. In his 14th consecutive start at center, Bryant also stood out on Sunday, collecting a season-high 11 boards in 28 serviceable minutes. That topped the 9 rebounds, plus season-high 16 points, he rang up on the Hawks a couple weeks ago.

If Ariza’s net effect is as decent as most expect, taken together with Dekker’s arrival and Bryant’s surge, Washington (12-18) may be among the latest NBA teams to finally bottom out after an early swoon. Still, if Messrs. Wall and Beal are going off again offensively tonight, understand it’s largely because they must do so for their team to comfortably win ballgames. Washington looks stronger on paper following their recent maneuvers, but their roster is very shallow coming into tonight’s match.

We won’t be seeing Howard (Dwight, not Josh) until at least after the All-Star Break. Otto Porter’s thigh strain had him missing the prior three games, and he remains out of commission for today. The only depth behind Wall and Beal are Tomas Satoransky (returning to sub as a guard, after holding down the starting 3-spot) and Troy Brown, the latter among the few healthy 2018 first-rounders yet to get it going beyond the G-League’s Capital City Go-Go this season.

Grunfeld hastened the return of guard Chasson Randle to the roster, bringing him up yesterday from the Go-Go, and he may have to play from the get-go. It’s a similar deal for third-year backup forward Okaro White. Dekker and Ariza, naturally, just got here, while Bryant’s emergence has rendered Ian Mahinmi (completely) unplayable.

That’s right, Hawks, I’m saying there’s a chance. Key, as usual, will be recognizing that Hawks are not burrowing animals. Atlanta’s minus-21.9 Net Rating remains far-and-away the league’s worst, and even the 7-59 Bobcats of 2011-12 finished games with a minus-19.2 in opening frames. It’s been even harder to dig the Hawks’ digging their own graves at home (minus-29.5 through 13 games).

Atlanta’s pace is has been at its slowest during those first quarters (104.1 possessions per-48 at home, 7th-highest in NBA). Perhaps trying so hard to perfect the halfcourt execution in front of home crowds is contributing to the numerical and psychological deficits, the desperation to catch up from behind resulting in a high rate of turnovers coming out from the halftime breaks (20.1 third-quarter TO% at home, 2nd-worst in NBA).

Coach Lloyd Pierce continues to rely on his young rosters to learn on the fly, but he may want to sub veterans in sooner during the starts of halves before opponent momentum becomes too great to overcome. Atlanta was outscored in Brooklyn 42-23 in the first quarter, 39-30 in the third.

Bringing in vets Jeremy Lin and Vince Carter sooner may help, but only if Pierce allows Trae Young and Kevin Huerter to return and show what they’ve learned from observation at the close these quarters. Pairing the rookies with defensive savant DeAndre’ Bembry tonight can help Atlanta slow the Wizard guards’ rolls.

John Collins (minus-43 on/off during Atlanta’s 144-127 defeat on Sunday afternoon) may prove to be the Hawks’ salvation someday, but in the meantime his energy-fueled interior stats (29 points on 13-for-18 2FGs, 8 rebounds) are merely a salve for Atlanta getting burned at both ends.

It will be intriguing to see the Hawks’ last two drafted big men find ways to share the court, once Omari Spellman (sore hip) improves his conditioning and returns to play. So far, Alex Len has been Collins’ most-effective two-man partner on the court, Atlanta a positive 24.8 points per 100 possessions (as per bball-ref stats) with this tandem in limited minutes.

Len (8 minutes @ BRK, 3rd-lowest of the season) could also benefit from Pierce giving quicker first- and second-half hooks to starter Dewayne Dedmon (1.2 SPG, 1.1 BPG), whose 52.3 2FG% has been the lowest since his rookie season. Like a tree, Dedmon grew in Brooklyn with a season-high 24 points (5-for-5 3FGs!) plus 12 boards. But until his interior scoring comes back around, it may behoove the Hawks to keep his spells short. Atlanta is 0-7 when Len receives less than 15 minutes of floor time, six of those losses by double-digits.

The schedule advantage continues to be kind to the Hawks, who wrapped up play in Brooklyn before Washington tipped off against the Lakers. Atlanta has one less game than Washington in the lead-up to Christmas Day, the Wizards following up with “revenge matches” for Ariza at Houston tomorrow, then back home versus Phoenix on Saturday, a day before visiting Indiana. The Hawks will have their opportunities to re-tool and catch teams napping before the holiday arrives.

Washington, having been unable to win more than three straight so far this season, wants to get on a roll. With their re-tooling lineup, the Wizards want everyone on notice that they shouldn’t be written off in the race for the ultimate prize, the Pat O’Brien Trophy.

Ah, see, you got me. It’s Larry O’Brien. I was just testing Ernie!

Let’s Go Hawks!
~lw3

[benhillboy]

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“Kent Bazemore Showcase Night.” In real life.

That boy Otto Porter ugly as hell.

[benhillboy]

Hope Trae doesn’t get eaten.

[EazyRoc]

Trae is looking completely lost defensively off the ball so far. Washington just hasn’t hit shots. Team is moving the ball well early.

[kg01]

We need to sign Magic City to a 10-day. That mfer produces, baybee.

We may end up losing this one but MC has mad his impact early.