Eastern Conference Round 1 - Game 6

Wizards 115

Hawks 99

April 28, 2017 - Philips Arena, Atlanta, GA

For the third time in four years, the Washington Wizards are headed to the Eastern Conference semifinals. The Wizards are now 4-0 in finishing a series up 2-0 and 8-0 in finishing a series up 3-2 after a 115-92 victory over the Hawks. Washington will now head to Boston for Game 1 on Sunday with a 1 p.m. tip on ABC. Isaiah Thomas is supposedly the fourth quarter king, but John Wall had a fourth quarter for the ages by dropping 19 points in less than 10 fourth quarter minutes.

• It is John Wall’s world and we are simply living in it.

John Wall's final stat line is something to drool at: 42 points on 16 of 25 shooting with 8 assists, 4 steals, and 2 blocks including his patented chase down block. With 8:27 left in the game, John Wall blocked Dennis Schroder when the game was 93-90 and Atlanta could have pulled within a point for the first time since five minutes into the game. Washington would go on to end the game on a 22-9 run. DC’s point guard scored their last 11 points and scored or assisted on 24 of his team’s 26 points in the fourth quarter.

Wall joins Michael Jordan and LeBron James as the only players since 1984 to ever have 40 points and 8 assists in a victory in Game 6 or 7 of the playoffs. Another stat not to sneeze at is that Wall played 44 minutes, which is the most in a regulation game this season. That makes the quick turnaround to Boston that much more annoying.

“I told them I was going to get 35 or more and we was going to win,” John Wall said in his postgame press conference on what he told Julio Jones, Gucci, and Quavo who were sitting courtside.

• NOT SO BREAKING NEWS: the House of Guards are very, very good.

Not only did the duo combine for 73 points, 11 assists, 7 steals, and 28 of 43, 65.1 percent, shooting, but they brought it all series long. John Wall’s point line was 32, 32, 29, 22, 20, and 42 for a 29.5 average, while Bradley Beal’s point line was 22, 31, 12, 32, 27, and 31 for a 25.8 average. Wall (42) and Beal (31) are the sixth set of teammates to score 40 and 30 points in a series-clinching win and first to do so since Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. Wall has candidly said previously that Washington will go as far as he and Beal can take them and they have a good chance to make it to the Eastern Conference Finals if they keep this up.

Brad was shocked at how good he and his guard mater were tonight.Coming into this season, only four duos in franchise history have each scored 30 or more points in the same game. Wall and Beal have now done so twice in a six-game span.

• Washington finally has themselves a good shooting night.

Last game, I discussed how the Wizards were sitting pretty up 3-2 in a series that they had not even had a great shooting performance in. For the first time in the series, for either team for that matter, Washington shot greater than 50 percent from the field (53.7%) and greater than 40 percent from beyond the arc (41.7%). Aside from the starting backcourt, Washington also got efficient scoring from Markieff Morris (17 points on 7 of 14 shooting) and Bojan Bogdanovic (10 points on 3 of 6 shooting) to complement the guard play.

• Despite the offense, the Wizards won the game on defense.

Flying under the radar of an amazing win is that Washington set a single game franchise high with 16 playoff steals. The previous best was 15 steals against these same Hawks two years ago. Washington forced 22 Atlanta turnovers that they turned into 27 points and also had seven blocks. Moreover, in the final six minutes the Wizards held the Hawks to a miserable 1 of 7 shooting from the field that matched up with Washington’s 16-5 run to end the game.

• Although it seemed that way, tonight was not perfect.

Washington had a miserable end to the third quarter. 38 seconds into the second half the Wizards took a 68-46 lead after an Otto Porter three-pointer. After that, nearly everything went wrong for the road team as Atlanta went on a 29-12 run that included a 14-2 run late in the frame. The Hawks had a stretch where they made 10 of their last 12 shots, which corresponded to a 3 of their last 14 shooting drought for Washington. It would have been devastating if the Wizards blew a 22-point second half led (nearly in Atlanta football fashion), but with the short turnaround it is unfortunate that Wall and Morris both played 40+ minutes instead of getting a fourth quarter rest.

BONUS: Thank you Phil!