Hawks Play Well, But Fall to WIzards

Just when it seemed like the Hawks were about to pull out a tough win against a conference opponent when it mattered, the wheels fell off.

The Hawks are in the thick of a tightly packed race for the fourth to eigth playoff spots in the eastern conference, and losing in Ovetime to a team that was just ahead of them in standings is hard to swallow. Atlanta had lost four out of its last five coming into the game and was looking to get back above 500. and into the "W" column.

 There was a constant theme in throughout the game. When the Hawks got into the open court and ran, they made plays and scored. In the halfcourt set, they struggled mightily.

Quarter number one got off to a slow start for the hawks and was a quiet all-around quarter to say the least. The second quarter was much of the same as the Hawks entered halftime down six.

The Hawks came out strong in the third quarter and played like a well-oiled machine. The "Run N' Gun" offense was a staple in the quarter as the Wizards had no answer for the Hawks fastbreaks. Everyone ran including Al Horford who displayed a superb ability to use the outlet pass.

The Hawks fastbreak points slowed in the fourth quarter and turnovers began to mount. Bad passes, forced shots and other turnovers were costly. However none hurt as bad as the missed free throws. Joe Johnson, Marvin Williams, Josh Smith and the rest of the Hawks continued to leave points on the board by missing their free throws. The fourth quarter ended in a tie after Josh Smith blocked Caron Butler's three-point shot that would have one the game had it gone.

In overtime turnovers continued to hurt the Hawks, especially on inbounds plays. In one sequence Joe Johnson lost an inbound pass that went into the backcourt for a turnover. In another the ball was inbounded with five seconds on the shot clock and the hawks just passed it around and stood there until the time ran out. This was after a time out! Joe Johnson had his shot blocked late which led to a two possesion lead for the Wizards and they never looked back. The final score was 102-98 Wizards.

The lone bright spots in the game were Al Horford and Josh Smith. Josh scored a game high 35 points and Al pulled down 19 boards to set a season high for rookies.

In the post-game press conference coach Woodson stated "We just didn't execute".

I think Hawks fans are tired of "Just not exexuting."