NBA preview: The Atlanta Hawks hope to recover against the Washington Wizards
The Atlanta Hawks (8-7) are reeling, having lost three in a row. They should have a decent chance of stopping that skid when they host the Washington Wizards (5-8) on Thursday 25 November, a club that is still looking for its first road win of the season.
The Hawks will look to improve their current winning streak over Washington to 10 games, as they take on a young Wizards team that is 0-6 this year away from the Verizon Center. Atlanta looked promising in the early stages of the season, starting the 2010-11
campaign 6-0. However, they have since dropped seven of their last nine contests.
“We just have to keep working,” Hawks coach Larry Drew told reporters of his team’s recent struggles. “We can’t feel sorry for ourselves. As you go through the course of the season, there are going to be some ups and some downs. You learn how to handle adversity.
These are the types of situations that will make you stronger as a team. You don’t fragment. You pull together.”
Although Joe Johnson’s poor performances have been hindering his team during their tumultuous stretch, the shooting guard shouldn’t take all of blame for the Hawks’ misfortunes. Still, Johnson, currently in his 10th season out of Arkansas, is averaging nearly
four points less per game this season (17.5) as compared to last year (21.3). Furthermore, he has averaged just 11 points per contest over Atlanta’s last four games, shooting just 29.6 per cent from the floor in those match-ups.
Johnson has, however, had recent success against the Wizards. In last month’s 99-95 victory over Washington, the shooting guard posted 25 points, 14 of which were scored in the game’s final quarter of play. The Wizards, meanwhile, haven’t won against the Hawks
in nearly three years, needing overtime to get the best of Atlanta back on 11 January, 2008.
If they hope to have any shot of keeping their streak against Washington alive, the Hawks will need to come out of the gates a little sharper than they have been recently. In their last four games, Atlanta has trailed entering the second quarter, and trailed
for the entirety of their most recent loss to the New Jersey Nets.
“We can’t sneak up on teams anymore,” Drew told the Nets’ official website. “Every game we play, teams are going to be gearing for us. We have to be mentally prepared, we’ve got to be physically prepared, and we’ve got to approach every game with a playoff
mindset.”
Washington, meanwhile, is attempting to win two consecutive games for the first time this season, after beating the Philadelphia 76ers in overtime on Tuesday. The Wizards were propelled by rookie phenom, John Wall, who came off the bench to record 25 points
and six assists in his first game back from a recent foot injury.
“That game was really pulling teeth,” guard Gilbert Arenas, who finished with 17 points, told reporters afterwards. “We didn’t come out and play well. We played well. We didn’t play hard. We played hard. It was one of those roller-coaster games.”
The Wizards will have to be more consistent if they hope to win in Atlanta, where they’ve lost their last five.
Prediction: Wizards 89, Hawks 94
Tags: