Washington 114 Atlanta 107: Game 1 Recap Bullets

• Dwight Howard got a lot of rebounds (14!) and the Hawks were not good with him on the floor (-21 in 29 minutes!).
• Which means they outscored the Wizards by 14 points in the 18:54 Howard didn't play.
• Mike Muscala is not a good NBA player in an absolute sense, but he's a functional one. Given the Hawks' dearth of talent, that's not nothing in this context.
• Also relevant in this context, the Wizards' bench is not good. There is no expectation five-out Hawks lineups could blow out the Wizards' starters to same degree we saw five-out lineups succeed against these units today.
• I think it's a fair expectation that the Wizards' starters can consistently house this Atlanta starting lineup.
• The Hawks' starting lineup: -14.8/100 possessions in 26:49 entering this game, was outscored by 13 points over 27 possessions in 12:01 of this game.
• Dennis Schröder and Tim Hardaway, Jr. cannot guard John Wall and Bradley Beal and aren't good enough offensive players to mitigate that inability. Especially Hardaway, Jr., who put in so ineffectual and awkward-looking a playoff performance in a Hawks uniform that you'd be forgiven for mistaking it as a tribute to the young Marvin Williams.
• Schröder's inability/unwillingness to stop the ball when John Wall has it in transition is breathtaking.
• The Hawks probably can't lose games where they get almost a third of their shots from beyond the arc (plus only 8 long twos) and attempt 39 free throws and win the series.
• Thabo Sefolosha is such a good role player (amidst a roster full of okay role players), one could argue the Hawks were missing their second-best player.
• Still, Bud's rotations were baffling.
• Malcolm Delaney's NBA career is over, huh?
• Markieff Morris would rather play the Hawks than VCU.