Shorthanded Hawks disappoint in loss to Wizards, 133-120

Starting to get a bit ugly.

The Hawks came into tonight severely undermanned. Among the players listed out were Bogdan Bogdanovic, Dyson Daniels, Kobe Bufkin, Vit Krejci and De’Andre Hunter along with Cody Zeller, who is not with the team for non-injury reasons, and two of the two-way players.

David Roddy joined the starting lineup for tonight, and Zaccharie Risacher got his third straight start as well. Early in the game, no. 1 got the upper hand on no. 2 with this nice footwork to find a bucket.

But Atlanta was a step slow out of the gate faced up against a spry young Wizards lineup that featured three rookies and a second-year player.

Atlanta faced a quick 24-11 deficit, but then they rattled off a 15-2 run to tie the game up with around three minutes left to play in the first quarter. Trae Young spearheaded the comeback effort, like on this non-call to pull up three.

Young had to do just everything with the lack of secondary ball handlers available. It’s a good thing he’s one of the best table setters in the world.

After one quarter, the Hawks led 34-33 behind Young’s 14 points and four assists.

Atlanta continued the momentum into the season quarter. Jalen Johnson, in particular, looked to build off a career game in his last time out.

And then, he flashed his best Trae Young impression in transition.

The Hawks flirted with double-digit leads in the second quarter, and after all too many video review breaks, they took a 65-57 lead into the locker room at half.

The Hawks let down their guard for a bit to begin the third quarter, and the Wizards, behind the hot-shooting Jordan Poole, grabbed the lead with under four minutes remaining in the period.

Keaton Wallace came into the game and had a big presence on both ends, making Poole work and knocking down some shots with the offense scuffling.

After three quarters, the Hawks trailed by a single point, 93-92. Trae Young was already in the midst of a monster bounceback game with 31 points and 10 assists with a quarter left to play.

Then the floodgates opened. Atlanta fell down by as many as 14 points within the opening minutes of the fourth quarter, so a Herculean effort was required to salvage a split of the past two games.

That effort did not quite come, and in the end the Wizards coasted to an easy win behind continued sharpshooting, 133-120.

Trae Young put up 35 points and 15 assists in the cause. Jalen Johnson added 21 points and 17 rebounds. Zaccharie Risacher had his finest game of his young career with 17 points and six rebounds.

The Hawks will look to regroup against the Sacramento Kings at home this Friday.