Atlanta's 13-0 run decides Trae Young's return as Hawks win 120-105
Atlanta built a 16-point lead in the second quarter and held it, with Onyeka Okongwu's 14 points and 16 rebounds framing a 120-105 win in Washington.
The picture is an AI-generated illustration, not a photograph from the match
The night was supposed to belong to Trae Young's return, and for a stretch of the third quarter it looked like it might. The Hawks won the last two quarters 52-44 instead and left Washington with another loss.
The second quarter that decided the night
Fresh from nine made threes on Monday night, Nickeil Alexander-Walker added six more in the capital and finished with a game-high 26 points.
In the wider picture, Johnson missed his second consecutive game with a sprained left ankle, which pushed more minutes onto the bench unit and gave Kingston Flemings and Zuby Ejiofor bigger roles than their season averages suggest.
Onyeka Okongwu contributed 14 points and 16 rebounds, while CJ McCollum and Aaron Wiggins scored 15 points each to cover the absence of All-Star forward Jalen Johnson.
The game broke open on a 13-0 run that began at the first-quarter buzzer: Asa Newell's tip-in, two transition baskets from Ejiofor and a Flemings runner inside ninety seconds.
Atlanta's quarter scores of 37 and 31 produced a 68-point first half, and the game-high lead of 16 was built before the break.
The player Atlanta got back in the trade
Trae Young, the four-time All-Star shipped to Washington in January, finished with 18 points and was within four of the tie late in the third quarter.
Anthony Davis had 26 points and 10 rebounds for the Wizards and Kyshawn George added 25, but the trio could not stop a third quarter that yielded only 24 points.
Corey Kispert, acquired with the trade that sent Young away, hit a four-point play immediately afterwards, and the game never got closer than six points again.
In the wider picture, Washington sit at 4-4 with a 2-2 record at home, and the last twelve minutes produced only 20 points after a 29-point second quarter that had briefly kept the building interested.
Washington conceded 52 points after the break while scoring 44 of its own, and the lead never came back inside six points once Kispert answered Young.
A home-and-home set that carries NBA Cup points
The two teams close their home-and-home set on Friday night in Atlanta, this time as an NBA Cup tilt that arrives only three days after this result.
In addition, Atlanta will want the second game without needing six three-pointers from one guard again, particularly if Johnson's ankle keeps him out of the rotation.
In the wider picture, nothing about this result is fatal for either side after nine games, but the Hawks have played two straight games without their best forward and still found a way to win both, which is the more encouraging data point of the week.
The Wizards have now played nine games with Young as the primary creator and Davis as the second read, and the gap between halves is where the season is being decided.
The margin, in the end, was the second quarter: a 13-0 stretch and 31 points, against 29 before the break and 20 after it.
Editor's take: Anthony Davis at 26 points and 10 rebounds is not the problem. Twenty points in a fourth quarter is.
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