You might figure that shooting 53% from the floor and 50% from long distance would get you a sizable lead, but it's only 6 for the Hawks as they turned the ball over 9 times in the 1st half and allowed Washington over 47% shooting. The game started strong for the Hawks as they ran out to 10-2 lead behind a balance of 3 pointers and layups. The momentum shifted though behind Bradley Beal's offensive spark allowing the Wizards to get back into it. The Hawks kept the lead in the first though behind balanced offensive contributions.
Early in the 2nd quarter the Wizards took the lead behind Nene's post offense. It didn't last long as the Hawks used some timely steals and good free throw shooting. Half way through the quarter the Hawks lost Devin Harris to a foot injury and Ivan Johnson had to come out for stitches making the team more shorthanded considering Anthony Morrow was out (back) and DeShawn Stevenson was resting on the 1st game of back-to-backs. Jeff Teague penetrated for easy runners on the last 2 possessions of the half to push the lead back to 6.
Kyle Korver leads the Hawks with 10 followed by Josh Smith with 9, and then Lou Williams, Jeff Teague, and Devin Harris each added 8. Al was lone quiet starter scoring only 2 on 1-4 shooting. Bradley Beal had 12 and Nene 8 for the Wizards. The Hawks are going to need to play with more energy in the 2nd half or this one could go to the buzzer like our first game against Washington this year.