Washington Wizards stun the reeling Atlanta Hawks 115-83
The reeling Atlanta Hawks suffered an embarrassing loss 115-83 at the hands of 13th seeded Washington Wizards on Saturday night at Verizon Centre. Playing in front of the season’s fifth largest crowd (19,771), John Wall scored 19 points, five
rebounds, seven assists, two steals and one block for the Wizards, who thrashed their 12 game-losing streak with this win.
Although the Hawks put the first points on board, they failed to build up the lead as the Wizards sprinted to an early 10-2 run. Nearly two minutes later, the home team made it16-6 lead. The Wizards continued their assault and finished the first quarter,
ahead by 11. Andray Blatche scored nine and provided two assists for the Wizards during the period.
Atlanta’s offense played better in the second quarter; however their defence had just too many loopholes. The Wizards’ offensive battery kept on making inroads in the fragile Hawks’ defence and pounded 32 points - highest score in a quarter during the entire
game - to end the half at 61-46.
Behind 15 points in the game, Atlanta required a miraculous effort to mount a comeback. They failed to emerge from their shooting slump though as the Wizards capitalized on their double-digit lead. At the end of the period, the Wizards led the Hawks by 88-72.
During the quarter Blatche remained the top scorer for the Wizards with 13 points.
Thing got from bad to worse for the Hawks in the final quarter as they managed to score just 11 points. The Wizards on the other hand kept on trading baskets and romped to 32 point win. Blatche had 23 points for the Wizards, while Othyus Jeffers and Larry
Owens added 13 and 10 points respectively, off the bench.
Al Horford led the Hawks with his 21 points and 10 rebounds. His teammate Joe Johnson chipped in with 16 points.
The Hawks are going to face Orlando Magic in the first round of the playoffs starting from next week and with four straight losses behind them, it’s not going to be easy for them. At the moment they are sitting on the fifth spot in the Eastern Conference.
After the game Hawks coach Larry Drew expressed his disappointment on his team's embarrassing performance, he said, "You can't just flip the switch. It just doesn't work like that. I've been around this thing long enough to see that you can't just turn it
on and turn it off. You want to be playing well. You want to be clicking so that you don't miss a beat once the playoffs start."
Next up the Hawks will meet the Miami Heat on Monday, while the Wizards will take on the Boston Celtics.
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