Just who is tired?
The Hawks won their seventh straight game with a 114-99 victory over the Wizards Saturday night at Philips Arena. The Hawks have won four games in five days.
The Hawks (7-1) hold a one-game lead over the idle Cavaliers and Raptors for the best record in the Eastern Conference. They also extended their lead to three games over the Wizards (3-3) in the Southeast Division.
Three key players
Kent Bazemore: The small forward is finding his offensive game. He scored a career-high 25 points.
Paul Millsap: The power forward has scored in double-figures in all eight games. He had 21 points, seven rebounds and six assists.
Otto Porter: The former No. 3 overall pick scored a career-high 23 points for the Wizards on 8 of 12 shooting.
Five observations
Winning run
The Hawks broke open a back-and-forth game with a 19-4 run in the fourth quarter. Bazemore scored six straight points – on a driving layup and foul followed by a 3-pointer that ignited the Hawks and the Philips Arena crowd.
Long-range Baze
The Bazemore 3-pointer started to be a real thing last season. This season it’s becoming a significant part of the Hawks’ offense. Bazemore hit four 3-pointers, two in the second quarter and one in the fourth with 3:35 left that gave the Hawks a 103-94 lead.
Slow start
The Hawks showed some effects of ending a stretch of four games in five days in three cities with a slow start. They missed their first eight shots and were 1 of 13 before settling into a better rhythm. They finished the first period shooting 33.3 percent (9 of 27) from the field. The teams were tied 19-19 after the first quarter as the Wizards committed seven turnovers. By the end of the first half, the Hawks were shooting 34.7 percent (17 of 49). The Hawks ended the game shooting 46.7 percent.
Turnover time
The Wizards failed to take care of the basketball and it kept the Hawks in the game. The Wizards finished with 26 turnovers, the most forced by the Hawks this season. Jeff Teague forced five. The Hawks forced the Knicks into 21 turnovers earlier this season.
Containing Beal
The Hawks did an excellent job containing Bradley Beal, the Wizards’ leading scorer – for three quarters. The shooting guard, harassed much of the night by the Hawks wings, had just two points on 1 of 7 shooting after three periods. He scored nine fourth-quarter points.
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