The series has reached an elimination game.
And it’s the Hawks with their backs against the wall.
The Wizards again defended home court with a narrow 103-99 victory in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals playoff series Wednesday at the Verizon Center.
The Wizards lead the series 3-2. Game 6 is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Friday at Philips Arena.
The Wizards went up by seven points, 98-91, with 3:30 to play. The Hawks went on an 8-3 run, capped by a Dennis Schroder 3-pointer, to pull within two points, 101-99, with 1:08 left. John Wall scored with 47.5 seconds left to give the Wizards a four-point advantage, and Paul Millsap missed on the ensuing Hawks possession. The Hawks failed on another possession down.
“I know Paul attacked the basket twice,” Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said. “He’s attacking. He’s getting to the basket. He’s being aggressive. We love that. Paul has been incredible for us in this series, throughout the season. I’ll take Paul in those situations.”
Schroder led the Hawks with playoff career-highs of 29 points and 11 assists. Millsap added 21 points and 11 rebounds, and Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 15 points. Dwight Howard had five points and 10 rebounds and did not play down the stretch, missing all but 1:55 of the fourth quarter.
Bradley Beal led the Wizards with 27 points and Wall added 20 points and 14 assists. The Wizards finally got a third scorer in the mix, with Otto Porter Jr. scoring 17 points.
“We just have to finish better in crunch time,” Schroder said.
The Wizards jumped on the Hawks to start the third quarter. Porter started a 19-9 run with back-to-back 3-pointers. The Wizards went up by 11, 69-58, after the run.
The Hawks answered.
They tied the score with an 11-0 run as Hardaway scored eight of the points with two 3-pointers. Taurean Prince’s hustle play started the run. Porter deflected a pass and appeared on a breakaway when Prince tracked down the loose ball and found Hardaway, who buried a 3-pointer.
The Wizards took an 83-79 into the fourth quarter.
The Hawks led by as many as seven points in the first and second quarters. The Wizards erased the deficit with a 16-5 run after the Hawks took a 34-27 lead early in the second quarter. In the middle of the run, Markieff Morris converted an alley-oop dunk by Wall to five the Wizards a 38-36 lead, their first since they led 7-6.
The Hawks rallied to end the second quarter and trailed 50-49 at intermission. Schroder led the Hawks with 16 first-half points, as he made all four 3-point attempts. Beal led the Wizards with 14 points, 11 in the first quarter.
Schroder finished with just one turnover. The point guard has protected the ball all series, even as the Hawks had issues in the first two games. Schroder has just eight turnovers.
“All year we’ve expected so much of Dennis, and he may have tried to do too much on occasion,” Budenholzer said before the game. “Right now, we always want him aggressive, but right now he’s being very aggressive, getting people involved, moving the ball, making good decisions.”
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