The Washington Wizards took down the Atlanta Hawks, 133-120, Wednesday night at Capital One Arena. After falling short against Washington on Monday, Atlanta could not split the home-and-home series.
Before this game, the Hawks reported a lot of unfortunate news on the injury front. Bogdan Bogdanović (hamstring) and Kobe Bufkin (shoulder subluxation) will be out for at least four weeks. In addition, Vít Krejčí (adductor) will be re-evaluated in two weeks, and Dyson Daniels missed this contest with a hip flexor strain, but Daniels is day-to-day. Atlanta’s guard depth will be tested to the max over this next stretch of games, and Trae Young will play a lot of minutes. Zaccharie Risacher and David Roddy entered the starting five for Daniels and De’Andre Hunter (knee), who was questionable coming into the contest.
The Hawks’ star guard registered 40 minutes and finished with 35 points and 15 assists. After struggling on Monday, Young played the whole first quarter and scored 14 points in the frame to juice Atlanta’s offense after a rough start. The Hawks quickly found themselves down 13 points before Young led a 15-2 run to tie the game. Atlanta clung to a 34-33 heading into the second.
The Hawks built a 48-38 advantage without Young on the floor by pushing the pace, turning defense into easy offense. Jalen Johnson, who dropped 21 points and 17 rebounds, led the charge and threw two back-to-back alley-oops to Risacher and Clint Capela. Atlanta also was active on the glass, grabbing eight early offensive rebounds to the Wizards’ three. The Hawks won the quarter 31-24 in a great defensive performance. However, similar to the previous contest, Atlanta’s defense struggled in the second half.
The Hawks lost the third quarter 36-27 and had seven quick turnovers. Keaton Wallace, who was pressed into backup point guard minutes due to injuries, provided an offensive jolt for eight points on 3-3 shooting, but the Wizards scored 9 straight points to tie the game at 82 and stretched their run to 16-2, taking an 89-94 lead into the final frame.
Washington came out firing, knocking down six of their seven threes to begin the fourth to go up 112-98. Atlanta struggled to contain the ball down the stretch. This resulted in easy paint penetration and kick-out threes for the Wizards. Washington scored 40 points over the final 12 minutes to seal the victory.
Bilal Coulibaly impressed in both games against the Hawks. He finished with 27 points (11-14 FG), nine rebounds, and three steals to lead his squad. Jordan Poole added 24 of his own, while Jonas Valančiūnas dominated Atlanta in the paint for 22 points, eight boards, and six assists in 25 minutes off the bench.
Risacher and Roddy each scored 17 points, and Capela added 12 points for the Hawks. They will look to end this losing streak against the Sacramento Kings on Friday night at State Farm Arena.
