The No. 1 Atlanta Hawks (7-4 SU, 4-7 ATS) can wrap up their Eastern Conference semifinal series when they visit the No. 5 Washington Wizards (6-3 SU, 7-2 ATS) Friday. You can watch the game live on ESPN.
With their magical season on the brink, the Hawks needed someone to come up big. Al Horford was the guy on a play he wasn’t even supposed to be involved with. He put in the biggest two points of the season for the Hawks giving them a 3-2 series lead with an 82-81 win Wednesday. The Hawks are one victory away from advancing to the third round of the playoffs for the first time since the team moved to Atlanta in 1968.
The return of John Wall to the lineup and another clutch basket from Paul Pierce weren’t enough to prevent the Wizards from falling Wednesday, putting them on the edge of elimination. The Wizards fell in six games to Indiana in last year’s conference semifinal and face the same situation Friday, needing a win to stay alive and return to Atlanta for Game Seven as they look for their first trip to the Eastern Conference final in 36 years.
KEY INJURY
Despite earlier reports that he might be done for the series, Wizards point guard John Wall was a game-time decision and started on Wednesday, scoring 15 points with seven assists in over 37 minutes. A report surfaced on Monday that Wall, who suffered five fractures in his non-shooting hand and wrist, was unlikely to return for the playoffs. However, the swelling subsided and Wall practiced dribbling and was ruled good to go by coach Randy Wittman and the team’s training staff.
QUOTE TO NOTE
“Considering everything I thought he played great. I didn’t ever see him play tentative or wince or seem to have anything bother him. And he played like John, all-out.” – Wizards coach Randy Wittman on the play Wednesday of John Wall
BETTING TRENDS
- Atlanta is 6-11-1 ATS in its last 18 road games.
- Washington is 9-2 ATS in its last 11 games overall.
- The OVER is 5-0 in Washington’s last five home games.
KEY STATS
9: Wizards forward Otto Porter Jr. scored nine points with 10 rebounds and was the only Washington reserve to score a point on Wednesday.
8: Hawks reserve center Mike Muscala scored the team’s first eight points of the second quarter and had three rebounds in nearly 16 minutes Wednesday. He was seldom used during the first eight playoff games, logging only 10 minutes of court time, but led a furious comeback that came up just short in Game Three.
ANALYSIS AND PREDICTION
One game Paul Millsap comes up large, another has Jeff Teague as the hero. Wednesday night it was Al Horford. Imagine how the Hawks would look if they all played well in the same game. I’m guessing it would be like much of the regular season when the team clicked at everything and romped to the top-seed in the East by winning a franchise record 60 games. Horford was the hero Wednesday after Paul Pierce nearly put the Hawks in a hole. Horford followed Dennis Schroder to the hoop, ripped the missed layup away from Nene and gently put the ball through the hoop with 1.9 seconds left for the series-leading 82-81 win. “I wasn’t supposed to be involved in the play at all. When I saw the ball go up I just ran in there,” he said. You can’t teach basketball instincts like that.
The Truth nearly hurt the Hawks again in this series. Before Horford’s dramatic play it was Paul Pierce who silenced the sellout Phillips Arena crowd with a three-pointer that gave the Wiz a one-point lead. There was too much time left on the clock, however, and the Hawks pulled out the win in what is a close and entertaining series. The return of John Wall to the starting lineup was nearly enough inspiration for the Wiz to get a second road win in the series but in the end it was the Hawks that made the play. “They made one more play than us,” coach Randy Wittman said.
We keep waiting for the regular season Hawks to show up in the postseason and it just hasn’t happened, yet they continue to win and are on the verge of their first conference final. What they have done, and continue to do, is win by committee. Starting point guard Jeff Teague was on the bench at the end of the fourth quarter with backup Dennis Schroder running the show. Coach Mike Budenholzer has no problem playing his reserves in crunch-time minutes and that’s the difference between these teams and in the series. Atlanta wraps it up Friday.
Atlanta 97, Washington 92
The NBA spread for this game will be available at BookMaker sportsbook. Minute-by-minute spreads, totals and props are available for this game using the live betting platform at BookMaker.
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