Story By: Erin Zollars
Photos By: Sol Tucker
Washington, D.C–
Sometimes it is one player that makes a difference, sometimes it is an entire team and tonight it was the later that helped propel the Wizards to a 103-99 Game 5 victory at Verizon Center.
For the Wizards it was another solid team performance that helped Wall and Beal late in the fourth quarter and the late effort of Marcin Gortat gave the Wizards the little edge they needed to make this game a reality and hopefully close out in Atlanta Friday night.
“Nobody has taken over the series because nobody has won on the opposing team’s court yet,” John Wall said.
If the Hawks want to win the series, not only do they need to win Game 6 at home on Friday (7:30 p.m. ET, NBA TV), they must win Game 7 in Washington. And Game 7 road winners are rare with the home team winning 80% of those games.
“It’s got to be us that’s the aggressor,” Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said. “All three games here we’ve given ourselves a chance. We feel like we can play better. For Games 3 and 4 we played better, we have to go back and play better in Game 6.”
Dennis Schroder led the Hawks with 29 points, making a career high-tying five 3s, and 11 assists. But after his basket from beyond the arc pulled Atlanta within 101-99 with 70 seconds left, Wall responded with a 21-foot pull-up jumper. Neither team would score the rest of the way.
“It was right there,” Schroder said. “We’ve just got to be better in crunch time.”
