Washington (0-2) heads to Atlanta Hawks, coming off a 135-116 loss to Cleveland.
It looked like your typical rebuild vs playoff team game.
The Cavaliers cruised in the first half, leading by six at halftime. The third quarter is usually the telling quarter, and Kenny Atkinson made sure Cleveland came out of the locker room and put some distance on the scoreboard.
The Cavaliers scored 38 points in the quarter and outscored the Wizards by 10. Game. Set. Match.
Washington will catch Atlanta (2-1) on a back-to-back. The Hawks lost their first game of the season to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Trae Young had 24 points in the 128-104 loss.
Keys:
Defensive Intensity: Cleveland is a playoff team with a legitimate superstar in Donovan Mitchell, but Washington can’t let teams shoot 54% from the floor, including 10-10 for Jarrett Allen. The Cavaliers were able to play a 3-pointer/paint game, but the Wizards can’t afford to allow the Hawks to play that type of game.
Downhill Early: Washington was 3-11 from three in the first quarter. There were two main reasons for that. The first was Washington’s lack of defensive intensity, so too many offensive possessions started with the Wizards taking the ball out of the basket. The second was that, outside of Corey Kispert’s first-quarter three-point attempts, the attempts were low-quality. As the game progressed, Washington improved from long-distance, but it was too late by then. Get to the front of the rim early and let that open up the three-point line, not vice versa.
Contain JJ: Atlanta’s Jalen Johnson received a lot of attention in the offseason, but he’s off to a slow start on offense. In his last two games (Charlotte and Oklahoma City), Johnson has shot a combined 7-28 from the floor, including 2-7 from three. In the game against the Hornets, Johnson had nine free throw attempts to offset the tough shooting night. Against the Thunder, Johnson didn’t have a free throw attempt. The Wizards should expect Johnson to go hard off the dribble early to help him get in a rhythm.
