John Wall wills Wizards to 109-101 Game 2 win over Hawks

WASHINGTON — John Wall picked up right where he left off.

The Washington Wizards All-Star point guard, who had 32 points and 14 assists in Game 1, finished Game 2 Wednesday night with 32 points, nine assists and five rebounds and led the Wizards to a 109-101 victory over the Atlanta Hawks. The Wizards took a 2-0 lead in the series, which now heads to Atlanta for Games 3 and 4.

"You're supposed to protect homecourt. You're supposed to win," Wall said after the game. "We did our job, now we have to go on the road and try to get Game 3, and when you get Game 3, you think about getting Game 4. We have to take it one game at a time. We know their crowd's going to be amazing. We know they're going to play a lot better basketball. But we feel like we haven't played our best basketball yet."

It was a gritty, chippy game from the outset, and stayed that way up until the final buzzer. There were 55 fouls in total, which prevented the Markieff Morris-Paul Millsap MMA story line from gaining any more traction. Morris, who had a 21-point, seven-rebound, four-block outing in his playoff debut in Game 1, was limited to just 20 minutes (three points) after getting in early foul trouble.

Wizards coach Scott Brooks, who was assessed a technical foul late in the second quarter after Morris picked up his third foul, said the foul calls were simply a product of the physicality that comes with playoff basketball.

"It's 10 competitive, athletic players competing to win the game. A very physical game, a playoff game, a meaningful game. We all care," Brooks said.

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The Wizards controlled the game for most of the first half and went into the break with a 51-43 lead. They held Atlanta to just 34.9% shooting and 0-for-8 from the perimeter. But the Hawks came out swinging in the third, putting together a 35-23 quarter to go into the fourth up by four. The third-quarter run was fueled by Millsap, who had 14 points in the quarter, eight of which came at the free throw line. The Hawks shot 55% from the field while the Wizards made just eight of their 23 attempts (34.8%).

Then Wall happened.

With his Wizards, who were still distraught from a questionable foul call the possession before, down three with just under five minutes left, Wall converted an and-one bucket to tie the game up at 94. Two minutes later, Wall hit Hawks point guard Dennis Schroder with a spin move and knocked down a stepback, midrange jumper to put the Wizards up 101-96. A couple of possessions later, Wall poked the ball away from Kent Bazemore at Atlanta's three-point line, ran down the court and finished a fullcourt Otto Porter pass with authority, pushing the lead to 103-98 with 1:05 left as "MVP" chants echoed through the Verizon Center.

After a missed shot by Atlanta's Tim Hardaway Jr., Wizards shooting guard Bradley Beal — who overcame a rough shooting night (12-of-27) to finish with 31 points — put the game away for good with a corner three-pointer with 38 seconds left.

"When he shoots it, it's game over," Wall said of his backcourt running mate. " ... He was kind of frustrated with himself (after missing open shots earlier in the game) and I was like, 'Nah, those are great looks. We're going to keep finding you. Those shots are going to come and you're going to make 'em.' He ended up making a big one for us and sealing the deal."

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