With Washington Wizards leader and point guard John Wall ruled out for Game 3 of this Eastern Conference semifinal matchup with a fractured wrist/hand, it would take a collective effort to defeat the number one seeded Atlanta Hawks. Thanks to a Paul Pierce buzzer-beater that banked in at the end of regulation the Wizards were able to take a 2-1 series lead, while putting immense pressure on the Hawks the remainder of the series.
Pierce, 37, finished the game with 13 points on 5-of-12 shooting and seven rebounds. He continues to hit big shot after big shot for this Wizards team that shows moments of inexperience in the waning moments of games. Bradley Beal, Nene and Otto Porter each scored 17 points tonight. Marcin Gortat was the other Wizard in double figures with 14 points, eight rebounds and three blocks.
Bradley Beal struggled shooting the ball going 6-of-15 from the field but he did have a playoff career-high eight assists. Nene had his best game of the postseason as he scored 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field, while grabbing seven rebounds and dishing out four assists. Coming into tonight Nene hadn’t scored a field goal on nine field goal attempts. Otto Porter was phenomenal once again off the bench. In 40 minutes of play Porter went 7-of-15 shooting from the field, including two three-pointers, with nine rebounds and four assists. In this series Porter is averaging 14.0 PPG, 9.3 REB, and 3.3 AST. Ramon Sessions added eight points and six assists.
The Hawks two point guards, Jeff Teague and Dennis Schroder, led the team in scoring with 18 points. Jeff Teague struggled shooting the ball once again going 5-of-15, but he went 8-of-9 from the free throw line and dished out seven assists. Dennis Schroder scored 16 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter as Hawks head coach Mike Budenholzer road his bench down the stretch in crunch time. DeMarre Carroll scored 14 points and grabbed four rebounds, snapping his streak of six-straight games of 20 or more points. Al Horford recorded a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds, but only played 28 minutes as he left with an apparent knee injury. Paul Millsap didn’t start as he is battling flu like symptoms, but in 23 minutes he scored only eight points and grabbed two rebounds.
For three plus quarters the Wizards were putting it on the Hawks as they led by 21 points with 10 minutes left in regulation. It seemed Atlanta was throwing in the white flag as they brought in all of their reserves, but they played hard as the Wizards let off the gas. About six minutes of game time later the Hawks went on a 17-0 run to cut Washington’s lead down to three, 94-91. Bradley Beal came out of the timeout and hit a huge mid range jumper that helped Washington refocus. Atlanta wasn’t done as the 6’11” Mike Muscala hits a game-tying three-pointer at the top of the key with 14 seconds remaining.
I’m sure coming out of the timeout it seemed the Wizards would give Bradley Beal the ball to make the big shot. However, it was Paul Pierce who demanded the ball, waived off Beal, wound down the clock, and hit a fade away 20-foot bank shot over his defender to give the Wizards the 103-101 victory.
John Wall was one of the first off the bench to celebrate with his teammates after Pierce hit the shot. All night Wall was up out of his seat cheering on his teammates and giving them encouragement. The All-Star even encouraged the fans to cheer all game, including an “Otto-Porter” chant when he dunked on the fast break to give Washington a 78-61 lead late in the third quarter.
Washington will face Atlanta Monday night at the Verizon Center for Game 4. The game will start at 7:00 PM EST. The Wizards have a 2-1 series lead in this Eastern Conference semifinal round.