Hawks at Wizards Game Preview

The Hawks will travel to the nation’s capital Friday night for their third bout of the season with the Wizards, who currently sit three games above Atlanta in the Eastern Conference. The last meeting between these two teams resulted in a lopsided Hawks victory in January, though the Wizards earned a double-digit win at home earlier that month.

Washington will channel most of its offense through Bradley Beal, who didn’t play in the first contest against the Hawks, and the Wizards are a different team with him in the lineup. Though he wasn’t voted an All Star this year, Beal is averaging over 30 points and six assists per game and has been on a surge since the All-Star break. He’s scoring 38 points per game on 44 percent from beyond the arc over his last eight games, but the Wizards are just 2-6 during that stretch due to some truly poor defensive performances.

Game Time: Friday, March 6, 2020, 7:30 p.m. ET

Location: Capital One Arena, Washington, D.C.

TV: FOX Sports Southeast, NBC Sports Washington

Streaming: NBA League Pass, FOX Sports Go

Spread: Washington -3

Washington is one of the few teams in the NBA with a flimsier defense than the Hawks, and could eventually rival last year’s Cavaliers for the least efficient defense (by point per possession) of all time. The two most efficient offenses in the NBA this season have been the Mavericks and whatever team happens to play the Wizards. They rank in the bottom four in opponent shooting percentage from virtually every area of the floor, and allow the highest opponent effective field goal percentage in the NBA (though, interestingly, the 12th-best expected opponent eFG%). Washington got by reasonably well earlier in the year with a top-10 offense, but has since slipped to 13th in offensive rating, which has left them with little to lean on against quality opponents.

Fortunately for the Wizards, the Hawks are not a quality opponent (not yet, at least). While the Wiz can feel reasonably confident about one end of the court, Atlanta has been a bottom-five unit on both sides of the ball this year and has the third-worst point differential in the NBA. Those figures began to tick up recently as the Hawks found some offensive synergy and defensive activity last week, but they suffered one of their worst defeats of the season in their last game against Memphis. Still, Atlanta proved its offensive potency the last time it played the Wizards, and will arguably have a more talented roster on Friday than it has at any point this season.

The Hawks will still have a competent offense to contend with on the other end, made even more dangerous by Beal’s shooting and playmaking. The Wizards don’t shoot the lights out, but take care of the ball and get to the foul line to create efficient possessions. Atlanta ranks 14th in the NBA in forcing turnovers, and if it can avoid putting Beal and company at the line, might be able to force the Wizards out of their offense. The Hawks don’t have any clear, significant offensive advantage going into the game other than the benefit of playing against the Wizards’ defense. Their big men aren’t particularly adept at covering the pick-and-roll or protecting the rim, which could make it easy for John Collins to get behind Washington’s defense and Trae Young to knife into the lane for floaters.

The Hawks will also likely have Dewayne Dedmon and Cam Reddish back in the lineup on Friday, which could help balance out Lloyd Pierce’s rotation. Reddish in particular could be a welcome addition because he gives Atlanta a capable defender to put on Beal (who may well wind up with 40 points regardless of who tries to defend him). We’ll see if Dedmon’s jumpshot comes around now that he has addressed lingering soreness in his right elbow, and whether that gives Washington even more defensive problems than it already has.