Atlanta Hawks ready to dominate the season as they meet Washington Wizards
Washington Wizards are the ones with issues in their Saturday Night matchup against Atlanta Hawks. They have had an embarrassing start to their NBA season with the 112-83 point loss to Orlando Magic in their opener. Not only that,
but they were embarrassed on national Television being outscored by 14, 10 and 7 points in the first 3 quarters of the game.
With their embarrassing 37.2 shooting percentage and being outrebounded 28 times, they showed a devastating performance.
Hawks, on the other hand, are coming off with a couple of road wins and their confidence is high. All that matters to them in Saturday’s game is not the win, but a big win against the young and outmatched Wizard team. It is Atlanta’s
home debut and being unbeaten with their new, exciting coach Larry Drew they want to make it big by improving their win-loss percentage to 3-0. The game against Wizards will help them to a strong start and they will certainly wish it is the case.
Drew was rewarded his first NBA victory by the Hawks with a 119-104 point win against Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday. The Philadelphia 76ers were next in line when Atlanta held them for a 104-101 point victory a couple of nights
later. All thanks to Josh Smith who blocked a 3-point attempt saving the day for the Hawks. Joe Johnson was the hero on Friday when he put up 22 points, five rebounds, two assists and six turnovers for Hawks making it look extremely easy for them on the court.
Al Horford too did not stay far behind as he scored 20 points, 12 rebounds, three assists and two blocks to play his part in the win.
Jamal Crawford is the one Wizards should really watch out for. Although he scored 19 points in the game against 76ers, but he might have a better game in store against the Wizards with his average of 26.3 points against them in
their last three meetings.
Wizards, who were devastated in their season opener to Magic 112-83, do not hold a very good record against the Hawks who already boast a 9 games winning streak against the Wizards.
When someone says that Washington is a young team, it is most probably a reference to the fact that 8 new players are making their debut with the Wizards this season and that was probably why they fell behind 14 points after the
opening period and 35 in the fourth quarter.
The Wizards placed their bets on John Wall, the No. 1 overall Draft pick who tried his heroics but just could not gets his shots right. Wall missed 13 of his 19 shots and his teammate Cartier Martin was the highest scorer for the
team with his 17 points.
Wall was quite disappointed in his performance as he stated later on. "It was tough," he said. "It's really telling me what I need to work on, but I already know. But as a team aspect, we have a lot we need to work on. We have
to become a better team."
Wizards need to improve their performance on the road as they only managed a win-loss record of 17-66 in the away games in last couple of seasons.
Hawks, on the other hand, hold a remarkable win-loss percentage of 65-17 at the Philips Arena since 2008-09. Hawks are not at all interested in all the lime light and attention Miami Heat, Boston Celtics and Orlando Magic are getting.
They like being under the radar as long as their team is off to a fine start.
It is 2-0 at the moment but they do remember the 2008-09 season, where they had a 6-0 start, and earlier a franchise record of starting 11-0 in 1997-98.
Wizards with their 0-5 start in two of the last three seasons need to work a little harder to change that this season. Gilbert Arenas, no matter how non-serious his attitude can be at times, will be dearly missed in yet another
game.
Wall and his team needs to work out a strategy for the Hawks or they are going to walk all over them on Saturday night ruining any dreams of survival they have this season. The Hawks are ready for a dominant NBA start and it seems
a farfetched idea, if the Wizards will be able to stop them.
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