John Wall carries Wizards to East semis in Game 6 elimination of Hawks

Neither the Washington Wizards or Atlanta Hawks created much separation in the first five games of their first-round NBA playoff series, but the No. 4-seeded Wizards always had the advantage of suiting up the best player in the series. Point guard John Wall entered Friday night’s potential close-out Game 6 at Philips Arena with terrific statistical averages and several big performances, and his transition excellence had given Washington its biggest advantages throughout the series. If the Wizards were going to become the first team in the series to win on the road and avoid a Game 7, he was going to have to be the player to lead them.

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He certainly did just that in the Wizards’ 115-99 win to eliminate the Hawks. Wall finished with a series-high 42 points (16-of-25 FG, 9-of-10 FT) and added eight assists and four steals in a complete performance that spanned most of his 44 minutes. But Wall saved his best play for the final few minutes, when he out-scored the entire Hawks team 19-18 and went on a personal 13-2 run to put the game away prior to being subbed out with 37.2 seconds left in regulation. Clutch performances do not get much better.

Plus, Wall’s biggest play of the night didn’t even come at the offensive end. Five seconds after reentering the game with 8:37 remaining, Wall saw teammate Bradley Beal slip and fire an errant pass that set up Hawks point guard Dennis Schröder for a breakaway lay-up that would have cut the Wizards’ lead to 93-92. However, Wall erased that big bucket with a brilliant chasedown block and converted his own lay-up at the other end for a huge four-point swing. He made a jumper on Washington’s next possession, as well, and suddenly the Hawks’ comeback had been stalled.

It took Wall time to reach this level of stardom following his selection as the top pick in the 2010 draft, but Game 6 made it abundantly clear that the has now made good on his immense potential. Only a few players in the league are capable of taking over playoff games in this fashion, and Wall is now one of them. Wizards fans should be very comfortable with him leading the team for years to come.

On the other hand, those same fans probably wish Wall hadn’t had to dominate as he did. The Wizards looked on their way to a comfortable close-out win at halftime, when they led 65-46 thanks to their ability to take advantage of 15 turnovers (11 of them steals) from the Hawks. It seemed to express one of the essential points of the series — when the Hawks allowed Wall and Beal to get out in transition, the Wizards looked all but assured of advancing to the next round. The first half was a terrible one for the Hawks, who were forced to bench Dwight Howard for the bulk of the second half thanks to his plodding pace and propensity to make mistakes (five turnovers before the break). Kent Bazemore and Paul Millsap combined for eight first-half turnovers, too, and the Wizards took advantage with 24 fastbreak points and 20 points off Atlanta’s miscues. Wall and Beal combined for 37 points on 15-of-20 shooting and seemed unguardable.

It wasn’t much of a surprise, then, that the Hawks began to mount a comeback when they cut down on those mistakes in the third quarter. They committed only three turnovers in the third (one of which came with a second remaining) and succeeded in forcing the Wizards offense to score in the halfcourt, where it is far less comfortable. The Hawks finally got their own transition opportunities towards the end of the period and managed to cut a 19-point deficit with 3:56 remaining to just five points on a Millsap three with 31 ticks on the clock.

Millsap can become a free agent this summer, so it’s possible that this game was his last as a Hawk. If it was, then he certainly left town giving all he had to the cause. Millsap was terrific in Game 6, posting 31 points (13-of-23 FG), 10 rebounds, seven assists, four steals, and a block in 46 minutes. He committed too many turnovers early and nearly fouled out, but he keyed the Atlanta comeback and almost starred in an improbable win despite not finding the outside jumper that often opens up his game. Whichever team ends up with him this summer will have signed a great player.

Yet the Wizards already have their franchise guy, and that was the difference in this series. Their conference semifinal with the Boston Celtics starts early Sunday, and they’ll need Wall to come up big again to have any chance of knocking off the top seed in the East. If he can do that, then his tremendous Game 6 could end up feeling like an opening act.

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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at efreeman_ysports@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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