Wizards (7) x Hawks (2) playoff review

Here we go!

This series will be forever marked in NSL Lore as the series where the 7^th-seed Washington Wizards took down the 2^nd-seed Atlanta Hawks and shocked the NSL world!
Let’s analyze what transpired here.

Game 1: The double jab! Wizards shooting almost 50% from the field and a sparkling 47% from the field. Call it the Brandon Clarke’s playoff coming out party as it was his first ever playoff game and he balled out!! 22 points, 7 rebounds, 2 steals all while shooting 8-11 from the field, a spotless game! 119-99 win was a great sign of things to come!

Game 2: The counter! Atlanta made the homestand. After letting the first home game slip by, the Hawks came back with a vengeance and DeRozan was in full force with a 32 point, 5 assist and 4 rebound night to lead the Hawks to a 122-112 win and make the Atlanta fans breathe easily that night.

Game 3: The right hook! Oh boy!! A Devin Booker sighting!! 41 points people! What a playoff performance by a great young player with a perfect 13-13 from the charity stripe. This brilliant performance came with a strong 113-106 win at home and take a 2-1 lead!

Game 4: The haymaker! Here comes the best game of the series, one that would give people chills because of what was about to happen in the series. That’s right, the Wizards had the Hawks on the ropes, Devin Booker had a 33-6-5 stat line and had the load of scoring for the Wiz once again. This was, in the end a 112-109 win for Washington on a great battle.

Game 5: The knockout blow! And it was a beauty by both Clarke and Booker as they played their best to go for 22 and 29 points respectively on great percentages to destroy Atlanta’s fans dreams of a longer playoff run. What a story!! 105-98 in the end and the Wizards advance to the next round to face the mighty Toronto Raptors! Wizards win!

Atlanta had a team full of stars like Embiid, DeRozan, Rose, Melo and it just wasn’t enough for the array of blows the Wizards provided.

Wizards work their magic, Devin Booker put the entire league on notice. Something told me they were not done.