Jeff Teague, Bradley Beal Headline Critical Wizards vs. Hawks Game 5 Showdown
The importance of good guard play for NBA postseason survival doesn't need to be explained to the Washington Wizards or Atlanta Hawks.
Both have witnessed it firsthand through the simultaneous rises of Bradley Beal and Jeff Teague.
And each club will once again lean on its star guard as the teams battle for control of their Eastern Conference semifinals in Wednesday's crucial Game 5.
Atlanta's Head of the Snake
On the surface, the top-seeded Hawks relied on their equal-opportunity system to knot this series at 2-2 in Monday's 106-101 victory. Four different players finished in double figures, five had three or more assists, and all nine who saw the floor contributed at least five points.
"That's how we play. That's how we've been playing all year," Hawks forward Paul Millsap said, via Mark Bradley of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "We stay aggressive; we get to the basket; we kick out and knock down three-point shots. That's how we played the game tonight."
To a certain extent, Millsap is right. An all-hands-on-deck approach is required for Atlanta to regain some of its regular-season mojo.
But all of those hands are not carrying the same amount of weight. Teague has been the tone-setter for the Hawks. Whether he's finding his own shots or creating them for teammates, it's his foot that's ultimately on the gas pedal and his hands wrapped around the steering wheel.
When he's aggressive, this offense is at its world-beating best. With a team-high 26 points in Game 4, Teague had his 11th outing of the season with at least 25 points.
The win pushed Atlanta's record to a perfect 11-0 when its All-Star point guard reaches that mark.
Emphasizing any individual (Teague or otherwise) challenges the narrative of the Hawks strictly adhering to the principle that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
The Hawks, after all, sent four representatives to this season's All-Star Game and had their entire starting lineup share the Eastern Conference Player of the Month award in January. There's a reason their "San Antonio Spurs East" moniker fits like a soaked swimsuit.
But the Hawks can have both an aggressive Teague and that revered silver-and-black label. In fact, one might bring out the best in the other.
Much like (a healthy) Tony Parker in the Alamo City, Teague can be Atlanta's lethal head of the snake. The more the Wizards have to worry about his scoring, the less attention they can pay to the Hawks' sharpshooters outside and their versatile bigs underneath.
And that challenge becomes even harder to handle with Washington's own All-Star point guard, John Wall, sidelined by multiple fractures in his left hand and wrist.
The Hawks won't publicly place any single player's importance ahead of the rest. It's not part of their makeup.
But they can say whatever they want; our eyes have already told us that Teague is their key to escape this series. NBA.com's John Schuhmann explained:
"Nobody in the Atlanta locker room - not head coach Mike Budenholzer, not Teague himself, and not his teammates - will say that the point guard carries an extra load in this series. But it has become clear the Hawks will go as Teague goes, especially with Wizards point guard John Wall out with a broken hand. Wall's absence makes Teague's job easier on defense and puts an inferior defender in front of him on offense.
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Teague has feasted on the Wizards for 44 points, 15 assists, eight rebounds and five steals over his last two games combined. Atlanta will need more of the same to keep the home-court advantage it just reclaimed.
It will also need to find an answer for Washington's budding backcourt star.
Big Panda Coming Up Bigger
Write this down somewhere, because it's going to be hard to remember when you're seeing him in action: Bradley Beal is 21 years old.
Had he ignored the NBA's siren song in 2012, this would have been his senior season at the University of Florida. Instead, it's serving as his official coming-out party on the game's biggest stage.
Not that he's ever really struggled at this whole playoff basketball thing. As ESPN Stats & Info observed, few players have ever enjoyed this much postseason success at Beal's age:
Even still, the former No. 3 pick has raised his profile while being involuntarily thrust into the spotlight by Wall's injury. Each time out, Beal seems more confident in his ability and more relaxed with his featured role.
"I am getting more comfortable," Beal said, via ESPN.com's Ohm Youngmisuk. "Just having to deal with double-teams a lot and dealing with what [Wall] goes through ... it is kind of the life I chose. I have to grow up. I can't make any excuses. I have to lead the team the best I can."
It's safe to say he's passing that exam.
While the Wizards fell short in Game 4, Beal gave them the chance to steal a contest in which they once trailed by as many as 14 points. He poured in a playoff career-high 34 points and stuffed the rest of his stat sheet with seven assists, six boards, four triples, three steals and a block.
As Michael Lee of the Washington Post noted, Beal carried what's now his club in every facet of the game:
"Beal was the primary reason the Wizards had any chance of being close, with his relentless play on both ends of the floor serving as inspiration. Beal wasn’t just good, he was smart. He recognized that Hawks all-star forward Paull Millsap had three fouls and drove directly into his chest early in the third quarter to send him to the bench. He was so active on the defensive end — arms waving, legs spinning — that is was easy to forget that he is still playing on a badly sprained ankle.
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More than anything, Beal has always been viewed as a sniper. He's quickly shedding whatever remains of that one-dimensional label.
That's what has made these playoff eruptions so encouraging. He's struggled a bit with his shot (39.4 percent from the field, 38 percent from deep), but he has elevated all other elements of his game.
Expectations have always been sky-high for Beal, and he might actually be exceeding them. He's contributing in more ways than scoring, answering the calls for playmaking and perimeter defense created by Wall's absence.
Beal is starting to maximize his potential. But he may need to dig even deeper if he's once again leading the short-handed Wizards into a Game 5 that history says they'll almost certainly need to win to advance.
Who Has the Edge Entering Game 5?
Four hard-fought games haven't separated these squads. They're not only deadlocked at two wins apiece, but the gap between them is a mere 13 points in the series (411 for Atlanta, 398 for Washington).
The Hawks are fortunate to have pulled out a split in the District. Paul Pierce's clutch cannon was locked and loaded for another miracle in Game 4, but The Truth could only provide a few seconds of false hope before his attempt to tie the contest missed its mark.
Even after the loss, the Wizards might have momentum on their side. They were playing with house money as soon as this series started, and Wall's injury only further shifted the odds in the Hawks' favor. The fact that Washington is still standing at this point is a victory in itself.
But Atlanta can see Washington's momentum and raise it with healthy, productive players. The Hawks didn't simply get a gem from Teague in Game 4; they also got bounce-back efforts out of Al Horford (18 points, 10 boards) and Paul Millsap (19 points, six assists), plus a huge lift from reserve guard Dennis Schroder (14 points, eight assists).
Teague is driving Atlanta's bus, but it's packed with versatile, proven contributors. Beal isn't quite on an island, but he's trying to make do with the 37-year-old Pierce as his right-hand man and a slew of question marks behind them.
Add Atlanta's home-court advantage to the mix, and the Hawks have to like their chances. Then again, this series has been full of surprises, so it's anyone's guess as to what will happen next.
But no matter what the next chapter holds, it will surely involve Teague and Beal as two of the primary characters.
Unless otherwise noted, statistics used courtesy of Basketball-Reference and NBA.com.
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