Trailing by three points with seven seconds left, Paul Pierce had another heartbreaker all queued up. But the Wizards forward missed an open 25-foot shot and the Hawks left Washington with a well-deserved 106-101 win that tied the series at two games each.
Jeff Teague (26 points, 8 assists) calmly sank a three-point shot a minute earlier that gave Atlanta a seven-point lead, but Washington quickly countered with a pair of easy baskets to get within three.
Teague's key basket ran counter to what the Hawks did all game long. For the first 47 minutes, the overriding theme was the Hawks' insistence on getting dribble penetration going toward the rim at all costs.
"We attack," Paul Millsap (19 points, 6 assists) said afterward. "We stay aggressive. We get to the basket. We kick it out and knock down three-point shots. That's how we played the game today."
The Hawks pushed the ball toward the rim from the opening tip, scoring 16 of their first 19 points in the paint. At the same time, though, the Wizards stayed even by catching fire from the outside, making their 7 of their first 10 three-point attempts. Pierce, in particular, made his first five three-point shots and finished with 22 points on 8-of-13 shooting.
The Hawks' relentless assault on the paint continued through the second quarter, even as the Wizards long-range prowess died down. Atlanta took a 65-55 lead into halftime. The Hawks had 10 assists in each of the first two quarters, and Millsap led all passers with 6 first-half assists.
As Wizards coach Randy Wittman described it, "Their guards broke us down too much, and that's going to be an issue we're going to have to solve."
Point guards Dennis Schröder and Teague finished with a game-high 8 assists. After the game, Mike Budenholzer noted the advantage of playing them together.
"(Schroder) and Jeff (Teague) were both very good," Budenholzer said. "We could put the ball in either one of their hands, get them in attack mode, get them in aggressive-type situations, and then on the backside you had a second one that could run play a second pick and get to the paint."
Washington did not capitalize on an eye-opening performance by guard Bradley Beal, who played more than 44 minutes. Beal worked tirelessly on both ends of the court, finishing with 34 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds and 3 steals.
Nene had a second consecutive strong showing for Washington. In addition to making 6 of his 8 shots, two of which were walloping dunks, he added 7 rebounds, 4 assists, and a number of bruising screens.
Mike Muscala played almost nine minutes in the second half, filling in to guard Nene when Millsap got into foul trouble. He finished with 6 points, as did Kyle Korver, who only took 4 shots but provided untold space for the other Hawks to drive while the Wizards chased him around the court.
"(Korver) is never not looking to take a shot," Budenholzer said. "They're putting a lot of emphasis on trying to limit his three-point opportunities and limit him. If there's that much effort and that much attention, then hopefully there are other opportunities."
And Paul Millsap liked those opportunities.
"To me, personally, it's the best we played all series: 30 assists, the way we played defense ... against a team like this who strives off of being aggressive, it's good that we stepped up and matched that today."
Story by KL ChouinardTwitter: @AnaheimAmigos