National Basketball Association

Atlanta Hawks at Washington Wizards Preview

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

foxsports

The Atlanta Hawks face off against the Washington Wizards for the second time in their first five games. They’ll look to replicate the outcome from the first meeting.

Tonight at 7 pm the Atlanta Hawks [3-1] will tip off for the second time against southeast division rival Washington Wizards [0-3]. The Hawks are coming off of a disappointing performance at home, falling to the Los Angeles Lakers, 126-119. Atlanta gave up 72 second half points in their worst defensive effort of the season.

Tonights game is a rematch of the Hawks home opener that saw the Hawks come out victorious, 114-99. Coach Budenholzer’s group held the Wizards to only 42.6 percent shooting in the first meeting and used a big 33-19 rally over the final quarter to secure the win.

Paul Millsap led all scorers with 28 points as he got off to a strong start in the opener. Markieef Morris led the Wizard’s offensive attack with 22 points on 9/16 shooting. Dennis Schroeder will be hoping to keep John Wall under wraps as well as he did in the Hawks last victory against Washington, as he held Wall to just 12 points on 3-13 from the field.

For Atlanta to win this game tonight, they may want to look to their starting center, Dwight Howard, who is coming off a huge 31 point and 11 rebound performance in their last game on Wednesday. Howard has a favorable matchup against Marcin Gortat, and should have no problems dominating the glass or navigating in the post.

Howard however, will be looking to get back on track defensively, as he went the entire span of his minutes in the past game without a block. Atlanta will want to continue to lean on their second unit in this one, as they have gotten a lot of strong performances off the bench. Tim Hardaway Jr. in particular has been hot, eclipsing 20 points in 2 of the first four games.

Atlanta needs to come out with as much energy and focus that they can stir up, facing a Wizards team that is desperate and hungry for their first win. If they have a lackluster effort defensively tonight similar to the Laker game vs. John Wall, Bradley Beal and company, it could mean big trouble.