Crawford’s 29 carry Hawks over Wizards
March 12, 2010
WASHINGTON (AP)—As he sits on the bench at the start of each game, JamalCrawford(notes) analyzes the opposition, the defenses they are employing, and the flowof the game. The Atlanta Hawks are sure glad their sixth-man extraordinaire is aquick study.
Crawford scored 29 points and the Hawks avoided a three-game losing streakby beating the Washington Wizards 105-99 Thursday night.
“You get a chance to see what teams are doing on coverage and how you cankind of pick them apart and dissect them,” said Crawford, who has led the Hawksin scoring 21 times this season. “Then I can come in and try to help do that.”
The Hawks were unable to shake the Wizards for nearly three quarters beforeCrawford scored 12 points in the final 3:37 of the third quarter, connecting ontwo of his four made 3-pointers and then finishing with six free throws.
“I just wanted to mix it up,” Crawford said. “I didn’t want to settlejust for threes after that. I knew they would get up closer so I wanted to getby them and get to the free-throw line and kind of slow the game down a littlebit.”
The free throws spurred a 13-1 run bridging the third and fourth quarters tohelp the Hawks take an 85-73 lead.
“He just comes in and changes the game,” Al Horford(notes) said of the Hawks’super sub. “He really gave us a lift when we needed him to. It was tied 66-66and he came in and made two threes and I think that changed the complexion ofthe game.”
Horford and Joe Johnson(notes) each scored 18 points in Atlanta’s first trip to thenation’s capital this season for the makeup of a game that was postponed Feb. 6due to a blizzard which left 2 feet of snow in the area.
Andray Blatche(notes) had 30 points and 10 rebounds for Washington, in the midst ofa stretch of three games in three nights because of the schedule change. TheWizards have lost five straight and seven of eight.
Blatche’s putback with 4:53 remaining pulled the Wizards to 92-89, but theywould get no closer.
The Hawks pushed the lead back to eight, but JaVale McGee(notes) rammed home hiseighth dunk of the game to pull the Wizards back to 101-97. Blatche missed ajump shot with a chance to get them closer and the Hawks made four of six freethrows to seal the win.
While the Hawks had a strong shooting night, including making 8 of 17 frombeyond the arc, their defense was from stellar and they were also outrebounded42-29
“We can’t have nights like this,” Hawks coach Mike Woodson said. “We werefortunate to get out of here with a win tonight.”
They are also fortunate to have a long-range shooter like Crawford. TheHawks improved to 16-5 when the 10th-year pro makes at least three from 3-pointterritory.
“He’s been fantastic all year He’s a big part of what we do,” Woodson saidof Crawford, who scored five points in the final 29.3 seconds of the firstquarter to put Atlanta ahead 27-22. “He’s made big shots for us. He’s run ouroffense. He’s put us in position where we are today.”
McGee finished with nine rebounds and scored 10 of his career-high 20 pointsin the fourth quarter. His eight dunks ties Orlando’s Dwight Howard(notes) with themost in a game this season.
Both teams shot well in a tight first half, but also struggled to maintainpossession of the ball. The Hawks shot 65 percent in the first quarter—62percent in the half—and Joe Johnson led the way with 14 points, but also hadthree of the Hawks’ 11 turnovers.
Following a turnover by Randy Foye(notes), the Wizards 13th of the half, MarvinWilliams(notes) took a halfcourt pass down the right side and dribbled up beforeswishing a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Hawks a 54-51 halftime lead.
Blatche connected on five of six shots from the field to lead the Wizardswith 13 points, but also committed six of his seven turnovers in the first half.
“I’m not used to getting double-teamed”, said Blatche, who has become thefocal point of the Wizards offense following their trading deadline deals. “Ijust have to keep on learning from it, keep on trying to make better passes.”
Blatche may have been the biggest culprit, but he was far from alone when itcame to giving up possession as the Wizards had 20 turnovers, many of which leaddirectly to points on the other end.
“When the other team scores 32 points off turnovers, you really don’t giveyourself much of a chance,” Wizards coach Flip Saunders said. “They wereaggressive. They switch a lot, and we didn’t make good reads, just turned theball over.”
Nick Young(notes) scored 13 points of his 17 points in the second quarter for theWizards, who dropped their fifth straight at home in front of a crowd of 13,625.
Mike Bibby(notes) finished with 16 points for the Hawks, who have won five straightover the Wizards, including three this season.
NOTES: Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas(notes) has submitted paperwork to go from No. 0to No. 6, and the NBA approved the change, league spokesman Tim Frank confirmedin an e-mail to The Associated Press on Thursday. Arenas was given aseason-ending suspension by the NBA for bringing guns to the locker room. Hepleaded guilty to a felony gun possession charge in January and is scheduled tobe sentenced March 26. … Atlanta has now gone 31 games without a three-gamelosing skid, matching Denver for the longest active streak. … Alonzo Gee(notes),signed by the Wizards to a 10-day contract on March 7, made his NBA debut in thesecond quarter. The undrafted rookie guard from Alabama scored two points inseven minutes.