John Wall cuts down turnovers, Wizards excel

ATLANTA — The Wizards continue to rage on the road. They have won eight of nine road playoff games under Randy Wittman and Sunday’s Game 1 win may have been the biggest surprise — at least when considering the first quarter.

The Hawks scored 37 points in the first quarter, rolling as the ball-sharing juggernaut they had been during the good times in the regular season. By the end of the game, their offense was a stalled, brick-laying mess.

With the Wizards leading their Eastern Conference semifinal series 1-0 for the second consecutive season, a look at three points from Game 1:

1. Ball control. The Wizards’ lack of turnovers in Game 1 may be the most overlooked aspect of the opener. They had eight total, but just six individual, the latter of which is fewer than John Wall averaged against the Hawks during the regular season. Wall’s 6.8 turnovers per game in the four regular-season meetings were his most against any opponent. The Wizards had five turnovers in the first half and just three in the second. A look at the turnovers shows just how well they handled the ball through the final three quarters of the game:

First quarter

— Bradley Beal turnover on the opening possession.

— Nene loses the ball

— Bad pass from Drew Gooden

Second quarter

— Nene offensive foul

— Shot-clock violation when Wall tries to make a move in isolation at the end of the quarter

Third quarter

— Shot-clock violation with 5:38 to play

— Wall travel (Kent Bazemore ran under and surprised him when he tried to turn upcourt with an outlet pass)

Fourth quarter

— Wall bad pass on kickout

April 12 against the Hawks, Wall had 10 turnovers against the Atlanta backups when he came back from some time off. Throw that out, to a degree.

Nov. 25, Wall had seven turnovers vs. the Hawks. Jan. 11, eight more. But, Feb. 4, he had just two in a 105-96 loss in Atlanta, which was also the most competitive game of the three between these teams when they played their full squads. The Wizards started slow, trailing by 11 at the end of the first, before being level in the second quarter, then using a big third quarter to head into the fourth only trailing by three (sound familiar?). That day, the Hawks had enough in the fourth to hold off Washington. Not so Sunday, and the Wizards have a blueprint. It may be hard to replicate, but they at least have a model.

2. Making the ball stick. Atlanta had seven assists on its first seven fields goals. This was the Hawks offensive machine that ripped through the league for much of the season. By the end of the first quarter, Atlanta had 11 assists on 14 field goals. However, Atlanta’s passing went away as the game went along. It finished with 27 assists. The Wizards were coy postgame in their explanations of what changed. They used generalizations like “sticking to our principles” and other non-specific language.

“The first half, we was kind of reluctant a little bit on some of the schemes,” Ramon Sessions said. “The second half, the bigs were talking, guards were doing what we need to do, everybody was just on the same page.”

The Hawks contended that they became too jump-shot happy and did not get into the lane enough after the first quarter. When they were, the Wizards were sent into scramble mode, chasing the ball from inside-out and left to right, which often produced open shots for the Hawks.

“Maybe we fell in love with the three a little bit too much in the second half when we started missing,” DeMarre Carroll said. “We probably should’ve attacked more.”

3. Rebounding needs to be better. The Wizards were able to wipe out Toronto on the glass in the first round. Yet, they barely outrebounded the Hawks, 54-52, in Game 1. The Raptors had 15 offensive rebounds total in the first two games of their series with the Wizards. Atlanta had 16 Saturday, including several tipouts, which are dangerous with Kyle Korver roaming the 3-point line. Toronto didn’t come up with more than 10 offensive rebounds in any game.

That early total for the Hawks is a surprise. During the regular season, they were one of only four teams who rebounded worse than Toronto. For the year, the Hawks were -3 in rebounds. The horrendous New York Knicks were -3.1 and the almost equally terrible Philadelphia 76ers were -3.4. Washington was tied for third in the NBA at +3.0.