Atlanta Hawks fall to the Washington Wizards minus Beal and Wall, 109-98

A win would have put the Hawks in the third spot in the Eastern Conference, but they fell to the Washington Wizards at the Verizon Center, 109-98.

The Atlanta Hawks were able to weather a quick offensive start for the Washington Wizards. Nene brought in eight points for the Wizards in the first three minutes and change of the game. The Hawks found their groove, and had a big nine points from Tim Hardaway Jr., who went 3-of-3 from deep on the quarter, Jeff Teague and Al Horford also had eight points apiece. Atlanta closed the gap at the end of the quarter, and tied it at 33-apiece at the end of the first.

The second quarter was much more of a defensive battle but that's easy to say after the outburst we saw in the first. Both teams had just 10 points in the quarter apiece through the halfway point, but it would slightly pick up towards the end of the first half. Jeff Teague and Paul Millsap led the Hawks offensively with six points apiece in the quarter.

The Wizards shot 33.3 percent in the second quarter, compared to their hot 51.9 percent in the first. Despite their shooting woes, they outrebounded the Hawks in the quarter 16-12, improving upon their first quarter performance. The teams switched leads, and had numerous ties, but the Hawks took a 59-57 lead going into the half.

The third quarter was close early, but the Wizards would go on a run, finding themselves up 82-67 with 1:57 left in the third quarter. The Hawks had missed 11 consecutive baskets. They had their looks at the rim, with a couple of shots even being point-blank, but they just didn't fall. It was a 21-3 scoring run for the Wizards before Mike Scott broke the streak with a three.

Atlanta was able to stop the bleeding, and exchange punches with the Wizards until the end of the quarter, cutting the 15 point lead down to eight at 84-76.

The fourth quarter got off to a slow start for both teams. The Hawks struck first, but both teams struggled offensively early. Tim Hardaway Jr. got hurt, and was determined out for the game with a right hamstring injury. Despite Hardaway's absence, the Hawks were able to trim the Wizards lead to 84-83 with just over nine minutes remaining in the game.

Washington quickly stopped the Atlanta run, finding their groove on offense after a terrible start. Rookie Kelly Oubre had some big baskets for the Wizards, and before the Hawks knew it, the Wizards were back up 10, 95-85 with 6:25 remaining. They were able to extend their lead to 100-85, going on a 13-0 run before it was snapped by the Hawks.

Atlanta was unable to generate any offense. The Wizards seemed unstoppable for about four minutes of game time. After a couple of easy misses inside of four minutes remaining in the game, it was clear the Wizards would close their season out with a win.

The Hawks will face the Boston Celtics in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs, after the Celtics came back to knock off the Miami Heat in Boston.