Eastern Conference Round 1 - Game 2
Wizards 109
Hawks 101
April 19, 2017 - Verizon Center, Washington, D.C.
(Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post)
Foul show, ref show, ugly show (except for the end).
In an NBA playoff game where you expect free flowing, exciting basketball, 55 personal fouls were whistled between Washington and Atlanta last night - 29 in the first half alone. For the first two games of this series overall, 102 total fouls have been called between the two teams.
Markieff Morris’ reaction? “Oh my God,” he slowly stated in disgust and disbelief. Morris had five fouls in the game, which forced him to play a mere 20 minutes tonight. For what is worth, Morris said he only committed one foul the entire game.
Keef's foul trouble was arguably the biggest reason why the Hawks were able to get back into the game. Without his defensive presence on Paul Millsap in the third quarter, Millsap scored 14 of the Hawks 35 points in the period and was the sole reason why the Wizards had to make a comeback in the fourth. Neither Brooks nor any of the players complained about the officiating, but that probably would not have been the case if Washington lost. Either way, a basketball game should never be 2 hours and 45 minutes.
Bradley Beal roars back once more.
In Game 1, Beal started 3 of 12 and finished 6 of his last 9 from the field. Last night, Beal started 6 of 18 and finished 6 of 9 from the field including a dagger 3-pointer with 38.1 seconds left to put Washington up 8. John Wall assisted on the shot (of course) and might have foreshadowed the result before the ball found the bottom of the basket as you can see in the video below. Moreover, Wall said after the game that he told Beal when he subbed in for him in the fourth quarter, "just keep being aggressive, keep taking your shots." Wall continued, “it was key for us and we kept just trying to find him.”
“He doesn’t care if I shoot the ball 100 times in a game or how many I make or miss, he wants me to shoot the ball,” Beal said about Wall to begin a cute statement about the House of Guards’ relationship. “He trusts me more than anyone on the team to take those big shots and be able to knock them down so that's a great feeling when your PG has that confidence in you. That's just more momentum and more confidence for me to just continue to play the way I have been playing, play hard and shoot the ball whenever he passes it.”
John Wall doing John Wall things.
After accounting for 62 of the Wizards points on Sunday between points and assists, Wall was at it again by contributing to 53 points of Washington’s 109 total. For the second game in a row, 32 points came directly from the scoring department, and 21 came via his nine assists.
Although he arguably should have taken more trips to the line, Wall shot 15 free throws, which is a recipe for success. Markieff Morris had a hot take about John Wall and the MVP race:
“If Westbrook didn’t get that triple-double record, he [Wall] would definitely be in conversation for MVP.”
Brandon Jennings podium game (almost)/
For 2 minutes and 44 seconds, the Wizards' midseason acquisition was playing out of his mind. Before that, he was getting beat on defense every second of the game, but we'll choose to ignore that for the time being since Washington was able to get the win in part because of a stretch early in the fourth quarter. The box score read:
Jennings 18’ step back jump shot
Jennings 21’ step back jump shot
Jennings 18’ step back jump shot
[Jason] Smith 0’ cutting dunk assisted by Jennings.
Those eight points that Jennings contributed turned a four-point deficit into a tie ball game and helped reignite the Verizon Center crowd and shift the momentum of the game. Jennings, nicknamed ‘Quick’ by Markieff Morris and whose teammates confirmed was putting in extra work over the last three days on his jump shot, called the stretch a “confidence boost.”
The Wizards starting point guard shared some love for his backup:
“Well, since he’s been here, I know he’s a guy that is going to pick up defensively full court. He’s trying to find his teammates at all times. I always tell him at certain times, you just got to be aggressive and look for your shot. It was finally good to see him make some shots. It helped our team out a lot because we really weren’t scoring as much at the time. That’s what we need from him and he understands that.”
The tone has been set
Last game, Gortat had 14 points on 7 of 11 shooting and grabbed 10 rebounds. Last night, he was slightly better at 14 points on 7 of 10 shooting and, again, 10 rebounds. Dwight Howard, again, was a non-factor with 6 points and 7 rebounds in just under 20 minutes.
Gortat did not play the best defense on Millsap, understandably, but he contained him to the best of his ability. The Polish Machine recorded his first back-to-back double-double in over two months.
Scott Brooks had high praise for his center:
“I thought he has been great both games. He has an athletic big that can have monster games in Dwight Howard. He’s done a great job of just staying around the basket [and] staying in front of them. He’s done a good job -- that’s what he’s done. He’s a big part of our team, and when he defends he helps us. He’s not known as a defender because he does so many good things offensively, but he knows how to play. He had some tough assignments – [Paul] Millsap is not an easy guard for anybody to play, and he did a good job of guarding him, also.”
BONUS: Round 2 of MMA Fun.
Before Game 2 even began, Markieff Morris fired back at Paul Millsap’s statement that the Wizards are “playing MMA” instead of basketball by doubling down.
“If that's MMA, then what we do next might be double MMA,” Morris said after Washington’s morning shootaround.
Morris takes pride in his role as an enforcer even growing up with his brother Marcus who was the talker, while Keef was the backbone. “We're playing like it’s the last game. It’s a Game 7 everyday... that's our motto. ... We are going to stay physical & stay playing MMA basketball,” Morris concluded.
John Wall later agreed that the Wizards can still be more physical, but obviously are not looking to injure anybody unlike Dennis Schroeder two years ago. After Game 2, Wall said that the physicality was similar to Game 1, Morris said “hell naw” when asked if things lived up to Double MMA, and Millsap surprisingly said “I liked it” when asked about the physical nature of the game.