Wizards take advantage of lifeless Hawks performance, 127-99

The Atlanta Hawks and the Washington Wizards matched up for the fourth and final time this season with Atlanta having won the previous three.

Jalen Johnson kicked things off with an easy catch-and-shoot triple.

The Hawks offense began to run in mud metaphorically for the rest of the quarter, however. Washington was able to capitalize on live ball turnovers and score in transition, and as a result they built a 30-25 lead after one quarter.

Things didn’t get much better in the second quarter. There were missed layups and ball thrown into the backcourt a plenty. Atlanta began the game hitting just 10 of its first 39 shots for a ghastly 26% field goal percentage.

Atlanta hung tough, however, behind some timely offensive rebounds and turnovers forced.

Still, the Hawks’ cold shooting from deep (7-for-25 or 28% 3P%) doomed them in the first half as Washington took a 58-47 lead into the halftime break. No Hawk had eclipsed even seven points by the time the buzzer sounded on the first half. Kyle Kuzma, on the other hand, had poured in 22 points by that point.

The third quarter was more of the same, as the Hawks could find the range from deep and couldn’t string together stops against a potent Wizards offense. Washington was able to get to the rim at will off cuts, and the Hawks quickly found themselves down 69-51.

The bleeding didn’t stop there, as the Wizards began to pour it on the Hawks and the home team was unable to keep pace from there. After three quarters, Washington had opened up a 99-71 lead.

The final quarter was largely academic with the Hawks barely showing signs of life and the lead too large. Atlanta fell 127-99. Trae Young had a team-high 21 points and 10 assists in the loss. The Hawks next play the San Antonio Spurs in the annual MLK Day game on Monday afternoon.