Hawks at Wizards Game Preview
When the Hawks take on the Washington Wizards Friday night, they’ll have played every team in the Eastern Conference at least once. Teams don’t often have to wait this long to cross every conference foe off their schedule, but such is the result of playing so many Western Conference opponents so early in the season.
The Wizards are one of the more unique statistical cases in the NBA this season. They own the seventh-best offense in the entire league, yet rank 25 in point differential because they give up a historically bad 117.6 points per 100 possessions. The 2017 Golden State Warriors, the greatest offensive team ever, did not score that efficiently. In fact, the difference in defensive efficiency between Washington and Cleveland – the league’s second-worst defense – is greater the disparity between Cleveland and San Antonio, the 19-ranked defense. Even a surprisingly profitable offense hasn’t been enough to mask the Wizards’ stench on the other end of the floor.
Game Time: Friday, January 10, 2020, 7:00 p.m. ET
Location: Capital One Arena
TV: FOX Sports Southeast, NBC Sports Washington
Streaming: NBA League Pass, FOX Sports Go
Still, Washington deserves credit for cobbling together an above-average offense given the talent on the roster. John Wall, the team’s best creator and facilitator, hasn’t played since December of 2018, and it did not appear the Wizards would have the offensive firepower to weather his absence entering this season. Yet in the absence of a ball-dominant player, Washington has played more freely on offense and risen to unlikely heights. The machine constantly churns, with the ball moving from player to player until the right shot turns up. The Wizards draw fouls well and seldom turn the ball over. Dāvis Bertāns and Moe Wagner have been perhaps the most surprising breakout role players in the league, shooting 43 and 39 percent from 3, respectively, and giving Washington more room to operate on offense.
The last few weeks, however, have brought a rash of injuries from which even these mighty Wizards haven’t been impervious. Beal, Bertāns, Wagner, Thomas Bryant, and Rui Hachimura have all missed extended time recently, though Bertāns will return against Atlanta and Beal is listed as questionable. Washington has scored at a league-average rate since December 15 (though its defense has been slightly better) and relied on the likes of Jordan McRae, Ish Smith, and Anžejs Pasečniks for offense. If Beal plays, the Hawks will have more to account for, but the Wizards will remain thin on shooting playmaking.
Their larger issue on Friday will be containing Atlanta’s pick-and-roll. Trae Young has been one of the best orchestrators in the league this season, and Kevin Huerter and John Collins could prove too dangerous as ancillary threats for the Wizards to cover. While the Hawks are no juggernaut on offense, simply having an All-Star playmaker and reasonably threatening complementary pieces has usually been enough to flummox Washington’s defense this season.
The Hawks have begun to round into the team they expected to be in recent weeks, winning two of their last five games and playing quality teams close in the other three (when a team starts the season the way Atlanta did, even close losses represent major progress). Young, Huerter, and Collins have played just 107 minutes together all year, but the Hawks have been competitive in those minutes and are starting to develop synergy between their three best players.
