They say the closeout game is the toughest to win in the playoffs.
It was for the Wizards.
The Wizards nearly blew a 22-point second-half lead before a series-clinching 115-99 victory over the Hawks in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals series Friday night at Philips Arena. The Wizards won the series 4-2.
“It’s the toughest game to close out anybody,” Wizards coach Scott Brooks said before the game. “The Hawks are a group of prideful guys. They know they have to win tonight and extend the series. We know we have to play well to beat them tonight. My experience tells me the teams that play the hardest, execute and get some breaks to go their way.”
Paul Millsap led with Hawks with 31 points and 10 rebounds. Dennis Schroder added 26 points and 10 assists, and Tim Hardaway Jr. finished with 13 points.
The dynamic duo of John Wall and Bradley Beal led the Wizards. Wall finished with a game-high 42 points, and Beal finished with 31. Wall scored 19 fourth-quarter points to seal the victory.
The Hawks trailed by 22 points when Otto Porter Jr. made a 3-pointer to open the third quarter. The Hawks rallied — big time. They got as close as seven points, 89-82, headed to the fourth quarter behind the scoring of Schroder (14 points), Millsap (11) and Hardaway (11). The trio combined for every one of the 36 points in the period.
The Hawks got as close as three points twice. They were within 93-90, after back-to-back 3-pointers from Kent Bazemore and Jose Calderon. They were within 100-97 after another Calderon 3-pointer.
“If you are going to make a run you have to put stops back to back to back,” Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said of the near comeback. “That’s what we did.”
The Wizards answered with a 15-2 run to put the game away.
The Wizards closed the second quarter on a 19-4 run to take a 19-point advantage, 65-46, into halftime.
The Wizards held a 10-point lead in the first quarter. They also held a 10-point advantage in the second quarter. The Hawks got as close as four points several times, the last a 46-42 deficit with 5:20 left in the half. That’s when the Wizards went on the huge run. The Hawks were 2-of-5 from the field with seven turnovers in the Wizards’ stretch.
Turnovers were especially painful for the Hawks. In the first half they committed 15 turnovers that led to 20 Wizards points. The Hawks finished with 22 turnovers.
“The turnovers in the first half, a lot of them led to easy baskets,” Budenholzer said. “We dug ourselves too big a hole and it was too much to come back from.”
One first-quarter turnover led to an exchange of words and shoves that resulted in four technical fouls. Kent Bazemore turned the ball over to Kelly Oubre Jr. who passed to Beal for dunk with 51.9 seconds left in the period. Beal got up and shoved Bazemore with his shoulder. The teams converged, and when the fracas was over Hardaway and Bazemore of the Hawks and Jason Smith and Beal of the Wizards received technical fouls.
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