On the second night of the back-to-back, the Wizards suffered a tough loss to the Hawks at home, 103-97. Bradley Beal led the Wizards with 32 points on 12-of-24 shooting in the loss.
The Hawks used a 16-4 run to close the game, stopping the Wizards on six straight possessions in crunch time. Taurean Prince led the Hawks with 23 points, while Tyler Dorsey added 22 points off the bench.
Markieff Morris was ejected early on with two technical fouls, exiting the game with 4:11 remaining in the first quarter. The Wizards, already without John Wall, were short-handed even more without Morris. Mike Scott and Kelly Oubre Jr. were asked to do more in Morris’ absence, but only made 5-of-22 field goals. Oubre did have 10 points and seven rebounds in the first half, but struggled offensively in the second half.
Atlanta led by four at the half, but led by as many as 11 points in the first half. The Wizards struggled to get their offense going, something Scott Brooks emphasized postgame.
“It's a simple game: you pass it to your teammate, you pass it because the game tells you,” Brooks said after the game. “If you don't pass to your teammates, you're not going to end up getting good shots.”
“The ball has been sticking,” Otto Porter Jr. said. “We’ve got to do a better job of moving the ball. Looking for the extra pass, looking for the right pass. Saving the home run passes. Turnovers [are] putting us in a bad position… usually get a shot up, but it has to be a good shot. That’s what he means.”
The Wizards had a tough time scoring around the rim, finishing 16-of-39 in the paint for only 32 points. On the other hand, the Hawks made 24-of-36 points in the paint, scoring 48 points. Atlanta also won the boards, 50-45 and scored 18 points off the Wizards’ 12 turnovers.
With only two games to go before the postseason, the Wizards (42-38) now sit at the No. 8 seed in the East. They would play the Raptors if the season ended today and trail the Bucks by half a game for the No. 7 seed.
“It’s playoff time, we can’t be fatigued,” Porter said. “We’ve been playing all year, and it’s playoffs. You have to step it up to this next week. We have one more week to get ready.”