Hawks’ Mike Scott hammers fast-break poster dunk on Wizards’ Bradley Beal
Is it too late to name the Atlanta Hawks’ bench Eastern Conference Player of the Month, too? Because holy cow, Mike Scott:
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The Hawks’ reserve forward will take all the 100, muscle, flame, skull, bomb and heartbreak emojis you have, please and thank you.
Wait. He’s worried you misheard him.
He doesn’t want a lot of 100, muscle, flame, skull, bomb and heartbreak emojis. He wants all the 100, muscle, flame, skull, bomb and heartbreak emojis you have.
On one hand, you have to admire Washington Wizards shooting guard Bradley Beal for making a valiant effort to deter Scott after Kyle Korver rebounded a Kris Humphries miss and instantly flung the ball down the floor to set the Virginia product loose in the open court. On the other, though, that admiration must be the sort reserved for those who fell — bravely, perhaps, but who still fell hard — in pursuit of heroism that just wasn’t in the cards.
Yeah, let’s see that again:
… and again, in slow motion, if you please:
Not only did Scott’s fast-break facial give the Hawks a bell-ringing highlight of the night that might wind up meriting consideration as one of the dunks of the season when it’s all said and done, but it also put Atlanta back up by double figures for the first time since the early stages of the second half.
The Wiz had walked down the East-leading Hawks in the third quarter, ripping off a 28-14 run behind scintillating play from Marcin Gortat (10 of his 14 points through the first 6:05 of the second half) and the backcourt of Beal (eight of his 23) and All-Star point guard John Wall (eight of his team-high 24) to take a 74-73 lead with 1:17 remaining in the third. But a pair of buckets from backups Pero Antic and Dennis Schroder — there’s that bench again — but Atlanta back up to close the third, and Scott’s slam capped a 13-5 run that put the Hawks back up by 11 with 6:45 left to play.
By now, after the long winning streak and all the post-mortems following its conclusion at 19 games, you probably know the number — they entered Wednesday’s action at 34-1 on the season when building a double-digit lead. Well, now we can make it 35-1.
Despite Washington’s best efforts to close the gap late, Atlanta kept the Wiz at arm’s length into the final minute, when, as Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution quipped, Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer “subbed out the Eastern Conference Player of the Month for the closing seconds of a 105-96 win that returns the Hawks to their winning ways and improves Atlanta’s East-leading mark to 41-9. On top of that, the victory makes Atlanta 3-0 against the Wiz, clinching the season series over their division rivals, and increases their lead in the Southeast Division to 10 games; according to SportSouth TV reporter Andre Aldridge, that’s the first time the Hawks have held a double-digit division lead in 34 years. (Again with the double-digit thing.)
All-Star point guard Jeff Teague led the way with 26 points on 9-for-13 shooting to go with eight assists, two steals and two rebounds in 31 minutes in the win, Atlanta’s 34th in its last 37 games. Center Al Horford added 21 and 13, while Korver dished six assists and snagged five rebounds to make up for an uncharacteristic (to say the least) 1-for-7 mark from the field. Scott scored only five points in 14 minutes of floor time and made just two shots, but man, did he make one of ’em count.
Wall (24 points on 9-for-15 shooting, nine assists, seven rebounds, one steal, two turnovers in 38 1/2 minutes) and Beal (23 on 8-for-19, an 0-for-4 mark from downtown) led the way for the Wizards, but Washington missed 12 of 16 3-point attempts and six free throws while allowing Atlanta to shot 44 percent (11-for-25) from beyond the arc en route to their fourth straight loss, dropping them to 31-19, just one game up on the fourth-seeded and streaking Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
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