The Atlanta Hawks and the Washington Wizards met on Monday night in Game 4 of their first-round playoff matchup. Philips Arena in downtown Atlanta was crowded once again with 19,000 hyped Atlanta fans ready to see their team tie the series at 2-2. After the Hawks dominated them in Game 3, the Wizards wanted to get off to a better start on Monday night.
It was a big game for both teams as Washington held a 2-1 series lead and wanted to take a comanding 3-1 lead, while the Hawks wanted to tie it up at two wins a piece and keep their chances of advancing to the second round.
Washington's backup center Ian Mahinmi didn't play again due to calf injury.
Bradley Beal's big game not enough for the Wizards
Washington opened up the game with a big first quarter. After Atlanta held a 18-16 lead midway through the first period, Washington went on a 13-2 run and took the lead at 29-20. It was 35-28 for the Wizards after the first 12 minutes of the game. Atlanta regained the lead back in the second quarter thanks to Dwight Howard's 10 points in that period. He helped the Hawks turn a nine-point Washington lead into a nine-point Atlanta advantage by halftime.
At halftime it was 59-50 for the home team. Teams went back and forth and traded baskets in the third quarter and it was a tie game at 77-77 going into the final period of the game.
Bradley Beal tallied 12 points in the third quarter for Washington. Atlanta outscored the Wizards 34-24 in the final quarter and ended up wining Game 4 111-101.
They finished the game with 24 team assists and had 12 turnovers. The Hawks shot 38.7% from the three-point line (12-31) and they had 12 offensive rebounds in the game.
Balanced scoring for Atlanta
It was a total team effort in Atlanta's Monday night win with seven different players finishing in double-digit scoring. Paul Millsap led the way with 19 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. Dwight Howard finished with 16 points and 15 rebounds, while Tim Hardaway JR. added 15 points.
But it was Jose Calderon that really made the difference in this one.
Calderon scored 10 points and dished out five assists off the bench. The Hawks outscored the Wizards by 29 points when he was on the court. He posted a +22 in the second quarter, where he scored eight of his 10 points.
Bradley Beal led all scorers in Game 4. After scoring just 12 points in Game 3, Beal finished with 32 points and five rebounds on Monday night. John Wall aded 22 points and 10 assists while Bojan Bogdanovic scored 13 points off the bench.
Series is now tied at 2-2 with Game 5 scheduled for Wednesday night in Washington.
