Atlanta Hawks vs. Washington Wizards: Game Five Matchup to Watch
The Atlanta Hawks and Washington Wizards are to square off in a pivotal Game Five on Wednesday night.
How big will Wednesday night’s game be?
It is hard to put into words how crucial Game Five between the Atlanta Hawks and Washington Wizards will be. With the series even at 2-2, the winner of this game will be in a terrific position to advance to the next round. The losers? They will have a deep hole to climb out of in order to stay alive.
With a game of so much magnitude, it will be the two big men that could swing the outcome.
Dwight Howard and Marcin Gortat are two strong, bruising centers that have had their ups and downs in this series.
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Gortat started the series very strong, registering 14 points and 10 rebounds in each of the first two games, while also averaging 3.5 blocks over the two Wizard victories. But since then, his production has dipped dramatically. He has scored just two points each over the past two games and has been real non-factor outside of grabbing 18 rebounds in Game Four.
Howard is coming off, by far, his best performance of the series in Game Four. The big man scored 16 points and grabbed 15 rebounds, dominating his matchup with Gortat. He has also not turned the ball over in the past few games after turning it over four times in the first two.
But the key to this matchup lies in the pick-and-roll.
Gortat teams with John Wall to form one of the deadliest pick-and-roll combos in the NBA. ‘The Polish Hammer’ is a strong screen-setter and rolls hard to the basket alongside one of the NBA’s best playmakers.
Howard’s greatest weakness on defense is defending the P&R and that was exploited in the first two games. If Howard can adequately defend that sequence, the Hawks will have no problem keeping him on the floor. But if not, Howard will be forced to the bench.
But Howard himself must get going in the pick-and-roll game. Dwight is no savant in the post and needs a way to get some easy buckets for himself and the team. If he can get going like in did in Game Four, as he was catching lobs from Kent Bazemore, The Hawks’ offense is hard to stop. Whether it be with Bazemore or Dennis Schroder, Howard needs to get himself some easy dunks to gain a rhythm.
It is no secret that Howard is a rhythm player at this point in his career. If he can get his own offense going in the P&R, he can have another good night. But if he gets abused by Gortat and Wall on the flip side, he could be a non-factor like he was in the first two games.
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Both of these big men have the ability to unlock a new dimension for the team’s offense. Which one will be able to do so?