The Atlanta Hawks beat the Washington Wizards 114-107 during the Friday night NBA slate behind the 28-point performance of Trae Young, including an important 3-pointer with 1:17 remaining. It was the second victory for the Hawks over the Wizards this week.
In what could be a preview of an Eastern Conference play-in round matchup, the Hawks won in Washington for the second time in three days. A half-game separates Atlanta from Chicago for eighth place, and the Wizards from Chicago for 10th place.
“It’s the end of the year, and teams are supposed to be hitting their strides and connecting and clicking,” Young said. “I think we’re just trying to do that on both ends and not just one end. We’ve just got to keep it going. Took care of our two games here.”
Washington made a game of it down the stretch after the Hawks led by 13 in the fourth quarter. After connecting from long distance, Young increased the lead to five, 106-104.
NBA SCORES & NEWS: Trae Young, Atlanta Hawks, Bradley Beal & Washington Wizards Updates
Bradley Beal failed to hit a quick 2-pointer when the Wizards were still trailing by just three. With 12.7 seconds left, Dejounte Murray made two free throws to seal Atlanta’s victory.
“We competed on the defensive end, I think as well as we have, from what I’ve seen in my time here,” said Atlanta coach Quin Snyder, who took over the Hawks late last month. “I was happy with how we competed.”
Among Washington’s scorers, Bradley Beal had 27 points and Kristaps Porzingis had 22 points.
“No moral victories, we’ve got to be a lot better,” Beal said. “We knew and understood the situation, the series coming into tonight, the seeding and what that could do for us. … Laying eggs. We’ve got to fight through it and these next 15, got to really make a push.”
After the second quarter, Atlanta led 56-50 at halftime after scoring 32-21 against the Wizards. A total of 18 points were scored by De’Andre Hunter and 16 by Murray for the Hawks.
NBA SCORES & NEWS: Trae Young, Atlanta Hawks, Bradley Beal & Washington Wizards Updates
During the past 11 days, these teams have played three games against each other. In Atlanta on Feb. 28, the Hawks beat the Wizards 119-116, and the Wizards beat the Hawks 122-120 on Wednesday.
The importance of these head-to-head games was clearly understood by Washington coach Wes Unseld Jr. before the game.
“We’ve talked about it a little bit,” he said. “Every game at this point is probably a higher degree of importance, specifically with where we are in the seeding and where they are.”
Washington went 7 of 27 from 3-point range, whereas Atlanta went 15 of 31. Young made 6 of 10 shots and Bogdan Bogdanovic made 4 of 8. A total of 15 points were scored by Bogdanovic.
“They made theirs, we didn’t make ours,” Beal said. “As crazy as it sounds, probably not as many as we want to shoot. We’ve got to find ways to try to generate them. I think a lot of times we just get stagnant and just watch guys.”
NBA SCORES & NEWS: Trae Young, Atlanta Hawks, Bradley Beal & Washington Wizards Updates
Washington had seven offensive rebounds to Atlanta’s 13. Three 3-pointers were made by Saddiq Bey, who scored 14 points.
As Washington shot 36 of 61 (59%) inside the arc, it kept itself in the game. Atlanta was outscored 60-32 in the paint by the Wizards. A 17-point performance was recorded by Kyle Kuzma.
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