
(Washington Wizards)
The Washington Wizards continue their stellar post season record on the road with a shocking victory on Atlanta’s home court, final score 104-98. Bradley Beal left the game early in the 4th quarter after a gruesome ankle sprain, but John Wall and Co. defensively dominated the Hawks, holding them to just 15 points total in the 4th quarter.
Wall was much of the story of the game, however you have to give credit to Paul Pierce (19 points), Ramon Sessions (10 points), and Bradley Beal– who dropped 28 points on the Hawks defense and helped to hold Kyle Korver to 13 points total.
John Wall was asked after the game whether he was concerned with Beal’s injury and his chances of returning to play game 2, Wall added “He’s a solder, we’re soldiers” — as he expects Beal to return to play.
While the Wizards have yet to release an official statement regarding Beals injury, I think he may miss game 2 versus the Hawks. Without Beal in the lineup for the next contest, the Wizards will be forced to find a player to pick up the scoring slack. His offense was pivotal in game 1, and a huge reason the Wizards walked away with the victory.
The Atlanta Hawks are in a must win situation at home, and cannot afford to go down 0-2 in this series. While I expect them to win game 2 at home, I don’t think they have an answer for John Wall and a healthy Bradley Beal. The “bigs” on both teams are evenly matched , however I’m interested in seeing the adjustments head coach Mike Budenholzer will make throughout this series.
Have we underestimated this Washington Wizards team or did we overestimate the Hawks?
Article updates coming soon … stay tuned..
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