close
close

The Wizards used another strong run in the second half to defeat Atlanta 133-120


The Wizards used another strong run in the second half to defeat Atlanta 133-120

Atlanta had hoped to put Monday's loss to the Washington Wizards behind them when they faced them again tonight, but it was déjà vu for the Hawks. After giving Washington a halftime lead, the Hawks lost by 21 points in the second half in a 133-120 loss. It was another night as the Wizards scored three goals in the second half and played a near-perfect fourth quarter.

It should be noted that the Hawks were once again severely undermanned tonight, but this was another slap in the face against what is supposed to be one of the worst teams (if not the worst) in the NBA. This is now the Hawks' third straight loss and the good feeling they built up in the first two games has evaporated. This is a team that now has to figure out how to navigate the next month or so until they can get back to full strength. Dyson Daniels, De'Andre Hunter, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Kobe Bufkin and Vit Krejci were out for Atlanta tonight. For comparison, four of the Hawks' top five ballplayers were out tonight, with Young the only one not injured. Atlanta got some good minutes tonight from Keaton Wallace, who scored eight points on 3-3 shooting, but relying on a two-way guard this early in the year isn't a recipe for success.

It was a better night for Trae Young, but he disappeared in the second half and the Hawks' offense collapsed without him. He finished the game with 35 points on 12-28 shooting and also had 15 assists. It was his third game with 30 points and 10 assists this year. Jalen Johnson continued his strong play on Monday with another nice night, scoring 21 points and grabbing 17 rebounds. Zacharie Risacher and David Roddy each scored 17 points. The Hawks finished the game shooting 47% from the floor and 30% from three.

This was almost a carbon copy of the Wizards' first game, except for the fact that they were without Kyle Kuzma tonight.

Bilal Coulibaly had a great week for the Wizards and he was even better tonight than he was on Monday. He played solid defense against Young, but his offense was the best part of his game tonight. He finished with 27 points on 11-14 shooting and 3-5 on three-pointers.

It wasn't just Coulibaly, however. Jordan Poole scored 24 points, Bub Carrington 16, Corey Kispert had 16 off the bench and Jonas Valanciunas had 22 off the bench. Valanciunas played a big role in the second half, scoring 18 of his 22 points.

In the fourth quarter, Washington shot 71% from the floor and 67% from three. They outscored the Hawks 76-55 in the second half to secure the win.

There wasn't much difference between tonight's game and Monday's. The Hawks started strong and looked like the better team in the first half despite the injuries, then completely collapsed in the second half. For now, the Hawks not only have to hope they get healthy again, but they also have to play better. There's a chance Dyson Daniels and De'Andre Hunter could return Friday night against Sacramento.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *