NBA Game Preview - Atlanta at Washington

Fri Mar 6, 2020 7:00 PM EST

The Washington Wizards hope to revitalize their run at the Eastern Conference playoffs when they return home from a difficult four-game road trip to host the Atlanta Hawks on Friday.

The Wizards lost three of four games on their West Coast swing, which ended Wednesday with a 125-104 loss at Portland. The defeat dropped Washington 4 1/2 games behind Orlando for the final playoff spot in the NBA Eastern Conference.

The Wizards have been led by guard Bradley Beal, who has scored 25-plus points in 20 straight games, the third-longest streak by an Eastern Conference player since the 2000-01 season and the longest in team history. Beal scored 29 in the loss to Portland, but was only 10-for-29 from the floor.

Beal has enjoyed great success against the Hawks. In 26 career games, Beal is averaging 20.3 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.8 assists. He missed the first game against the Hawks this season while recovering from an injury, but scored 40 points in the second contest.

In an effort to foster a better defensive effort, the Wizards started Jerome Robinson at guard against the Blazers. He had four rebounds and one block in 26 minutes against Portland. Robinson also had 10 points, two steals and a block in Tuesday's 133-126 loss at Sacramento.

"He's got a lot of opportunities the remainder of the season to see if we can get better," coach Scott Brooks said. "I thought his defense was a big spark coming back from a big deficit (against the Kings). We need it. We need all the defenders we can possibly get."

The Hawks just finished a four-game homestand at 2-2 with wins over Brooklyn and Portland. But Atlanta was hammered 127-88 by Memphis on Monday night after shooting a season-low 32.3 percent.

"This is a game you can just throw in the trash," guard Trae Young said. "You can't rally watch film on this. All you can really do is reflect on your energy, reflect on how hard you competed."

Lack of effort appeared to be a problem in the Memphis game. The Hawks failed to play with the sort of energy they had shown in the previous two games, when they won both ends of a back-to-back for the first time this season.

"I don't know what that was," Atlanta coach Lloyd Pierce said after Monday's game. "I don't know what to teach. You can't teach effort. You can talk about it. Effort is effort."

Young was limited to 19 points against Memphis, but still became the youngest Atlanta player (21 years, 165 days) to reach 800 career free throws made. He was 9-for-9 at the line against the Grizzlies and became the eighth-youngest player in NBA history to reach the milestone.

The Hawks are hopeful that rookie Cam Reddish (lower back pain) and veteran center Dewayne Dedmon (right elbow pain) can return soon. Atlanta had only 10 healthy players on Monday.

"It's tough when you've got more dudes in suits than jerseys," Pierce said. "We've just got to get everybody healthy. Three games in four nights isn't easy."

Washington and Atlanta have split the two previous meetings, with each winning on its home court. The Wizards won 111-101 on Jan. 10 and the Hawks won 152-133 on Jan. 26. The final meeting will be March 20 in Atlanta.

--Field Level Media