After Washington won the series opener over the weekend, Game 2 was ready to be played on Wednesday night. Verizon Center in Washington was fully packed with 20 thousand fans in the stands. Washington was playing without its backup center Ian Mahinmi who was out due to a calf injury. Prior to Wednesday's game, the Wizards had won four straight at home against the Atlanta Hawks. Atlanta is in the playoffs for the 10th consecutive year, the longest current streak in the Eastern Conference.
Back and forth game to the end
It was a close game from the very beginning.
Atlanta won the first quarter and held a 24-23 lead after the first 12 minutes of playing time. Midway through the second quarter Washington went on an 8-2 run and took their biggest lead of the first half at 40-32. At halftime, the score was 51-43 for the home team. The Hawks shot 0 for 8 on 3-point attempts in the first half. Mike Budenholzer's team answered with a huge third quarter and scored 35 points in that period. Millsap scored 14 points in the third quarter, including six during a 13-0 run that gave Atlanta a 74-67 lead with 3 minutes left in the third. The fourth quarter was all about John Wall and Bradley Beal. Wall and Beal combined for 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting in the final five minutes of Game 2 and they outscored the Hawks 24-23 in the fourth quarter.
Beal scored 16 of his 31 points in the fourth quarter, the most he has scored in the fourth quarter of any playoff game. The final score was 109-101 for the Wizards team that finished the game with 22 team assists. They held the Hawks to just 40.5% shooting from the field, and 20% from the three-point line.
Wall with another superb performance
After scoring 32 points in Game 1, Washington's all-star point guard John Wall played another great game. He led all scorers on Wednesday night and finished with 32 points, nine assists, and five rebounds. He was perfect 2-2 from the three-point land and shot 12-15 from the free-throw line.
His backcourt partner Bradley Beal added 31 points and three assists.
Wall and Beal are the first pair of Wizards to each score at least 30 points in a playoff game since Antawn Jamison and Gilbert Arenas did it in 2006. They combined to score 63 points in Game 2, the most ever they’ve combined to score in a playoff game. Marcin Gortat added 14 points and 10 rebounds for Washington.
Paul Millsap led all Hawks players in scoring with 27 points and he pulled down 10 rebounds as well. Dennis Schroder helped with 23 points and six assists while Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 19.
The Wizards now lead the series 2-0 with Game 3 to be played on Saturday in Atlanta. The Hawks are 0-18 in series when trailing 2-0 in a best-of-seven.
