After another satisfying Schadenfriday, the Atlanta Hawks soar north to the nation’s capital to take on the Washington Wizards (7:00 PM Eastern, SportSouth, CSN Washington). Never mind the Iron Bowl, or Clean Old-Fashioned Hate… because Hawks-Wizards is the Southeast’s oldest NBA rivalry.

Congress is always at each other’s throats, but the good squabbling this month in Chocloate City was going on just a few blocks west of the Capitol, at Verizon Center. As the Wizards struggled through, and past, a disappointing 2-7 start to the season, hot-seated Head Coach Randy Wittman was openly F-bombing players out about their defensive commitment, Bradley Beal expressed frustration on the floor when he was open and not getting the ball, Nene grilled his younger teammates for not emulating the Spurs’ approach to team play (“take their heads out of their butts and play the right way”), and Marcin Gortat ripped a game towel in half.

But all the fumes are giving way to perfume. Never mind the 93-73 waxing at the hands of the top-seeded Pacers last night in Indiana. The Wizards’ outlook is feeling much more positive, having come out victorious in five of their last seven games. After Washington (7-9) coughed up 100-plus points in nine of their first ten contests (although two were overtime games), they’ve held opponents below the century mark in five of their last six.

They’re pulling through without leading scorer Beal (20.6 PPG) due to a stressed fibula, without any sense of when rookie lotto pick Otto Porter would be available, with offseason acquisition Al Harrington unavailable due to a sore knee, with its veteran defender Trevor Ariza having missed a couple weeks with a strained hamstring. Nene (20.4 PPG at home) is playing through a sore Achilles and sat out of Friday night’s action.

“I’m the best point guard in the league. That’s my statement.” Sorry, Chris Paul. John Wall is out to convince the world of that statement, and it begins with convincing himself. Last week’s Eastern Conference Player of the Week Award winner posted 24.3 points and 8.5 assists during the week, following up two double-doubles with back-to-back-to-back games of 30-plus points. In the halfcourt, Wall is learning not to settle for open shots defenders are giving him, instead re-establishing drives to the rim to unsettle the defense and open up his teammates.

The former first-overall pick in 2010 strives to make his mark as an NBA household name in 2013-14, after a three-year career derailed by injuries and losing seasons. Wall’s 8.8 assists per game leads the NBA East, about a half-a-dime per game ahead of Atlanta’s Jeff Teague. Teague gets the edge in assists on a per-possession basis (29.4 per 100 possessions, to Wall’s 28.9).

Relied upon only intermittently before Ariza’s injury, Martell Webster is making it tough on Wittman to put him back on the bench, even once Beal returns. Webster is a catch-and-shoot killer who ranks 3^rd in the NBA for the lowest turnover rate and 2^nd for offensive rating (126.6 Wizards points per 100 possessions on-floor). His 2.4 threes per game ranks third in the East behind Kyle Korver’s 2.5, and he is also hitting nearly 90 percent of his free throws while helping out on the boards (career-high 5.0 RPG).

Beal, Webster and Ariza rank 3^rd, 9^th, and 11^th, respectively in catch-and-shoot points per game. All three fire off more than five three-point attempts per game, the top 3 shot-attempters in the Eastern Conference each surpassing Korver’s 4.7 per-game attempts. The trio is particularly dangerous in the corners (45.7 3FG%), rather than above the break (35.1 3FG%). Hawks swingmen must stay at home on Webster (league-leading 21 corner threes) and Ariza (47.2 FG% on corner threes), putting the onus on Teague and Horford to play effective man defense on Wall and Gortat.

The Wizards’ defense has struggled to keep opponents off of the basket. Opponents are shooting 65.7 FG%, highest in the NBA East, in the restricted area. It’s been a tough adjustment for Washington after trading their defensive lynchpin, the injured Emeka Okafor to Phoenix in favor of the offensive punch from Gortat (55.4 FG%, 7^th in NBA).

To his credit, The Polish Hammer is providing career highs in defensive rebounding (7.3 defensive RPG) and blocks (1.6 per game). But he’s stretched thin, and if Nene cannot go, Washington will have to rely on the defensively porous hook-shot artist Kevin Seraphin, or the similarly green Jan Vesely to back Gortat up. If there is any opportunity to fine-tune Al Horford’s post game, the matchup with Gortat is it.

Jeff Teague and Horford re-energized the Hawks (9-8) just in time last night in the nail-biting rally to prevail over the Mavericks. Teague will also help the Hawks offense, below 100 points in the last seven games and below 90 in four of them, tonight if he can drive around Wall into the paint on the side of the floor opposite to Ariza (2.2 steals per game, 7^th in NBA), drawing Gortat and/or Ariza over to help and freeing up teammates.

Ball protection and transition defense will be crucial against Wall and Ariza, as the Wizards rank third in the league for both points off of turnovers (19.9 per game) and fastbreak points (17.4 per game).

Go Hawks!

~lw3