Prior to the beginning of the Washington Wizards-Toronto Raptors series, I wrote about the importance of containing Lou Williams, who has built a reputation of being a Wizard Killer.

Toronto’s perimeter oriented offense was completely shut down by Randy Wittman‘s club, and the Wizards went on to finish the series with the second best defensive rating in the entire playoffs.

Williams averaged just slightly under 13 points per game against Washington on a putrid 31 percent shooting from the field. With John Wall, Bradley Beal and Otto Porter on the floor together, the Wizards were able to switch, making life miserable for Toronto’s guards.

Washington’s offense starts on the defensive end and we saw them dominate Toronto on that end of the floor, too. The Wizards had the best offensive rating in the playoffs and it’s not a coincidence that their offense improved when playing Paul Pierce at the four spot.

While the Atlanta Hawks don’t necessarily have a player like Williams, they do have several guards on their roster that are capable of taking over games after they find a rhythm.

Kyle Korver is a nightmare to game-plan for and Washington had over a week to scout the All-Star.

Similar to how they defended Lou Williams, the Washington Wizards are going to have to find a way to contain Korver if they want to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals.

In 75 games during the regular season, Kyle Korver made nearly 50 percent of his field goal attempts, 50 percent of his threes and 90 percent of his free throws. When discussing who’s the best shooter in the NBA, pundits will bring up Stephen Curry, but I’m not sure there’s anyone better than Korver.

via Basketball-Reference

Against the Brooklyn Nets in the first round, Korver’s shooting percentages dipped.

He made just under 40 percent of his threes in six games, and his field goal percentage fell to just over 43 percent. In three games against the Washington Wizards during the regular season, his numbers were even worse than against Brooklyn in the first round. He averaged just 9 points on 37 percent shooting from the field.

The departure of Trevor Ariza will hurt the Wizards more against the Atlanta Hawks more than it did against the Toronto Raptors.

With Pierce at the four, the Wizards were a lot more versatile than the Raptors and took advantage of their poor defense. Against the Hawks, though, their versatility will be matched.

Given how well he performed against DeMar DeRozan, it wouldn’t surprise me if Otto Porter got the defensive assignment against Kyle Korver.

For just a second year player, Porter has been extremely disciplined on the defensive end of the floor.

He rarely bites for pump fakes and he does a great job of staying glued to the offensive player off the ball. Korver, like virtually every other great shooter, is fantastic at finding open looks by moving without the ball. Disrupting his rhythm and not allowing him to get clean shots will be key.

According to tracking data, Kyle Korver made well over half of his wide open three point shots during the regular season. Porter, as well as the rest of the wing players, did a good job of closing out on shooters against the Raptors, and they have to continue that against the Hawks. If Korver gets an open look, it’s almost guaranteed that he’ll knock it down.

Kyle Korver is going to hit tough, contested jump shots. It’s just a matter of chasing him around and making it difficult for him. He struggled against the Nets, but he did have a breakout game in the closeout match up, scoring 20 points including 6-10 shooting from 3-point territory.

Their offense has been fantastic in the postseason, but defense will continue to be the Washington Wizards’ calling card. Containing Kyle Korver will be just one of many of the challenges they’ll face against the Atlanta Hawks.