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RECAP: Wizards Rain Down 21 Three's And Shorthanded Hawks Make Too Mistakes In 121-119 Loss

Atlanta is now 2-2 and will face the Wizards again on Wednesday

Jackson Caudell

Oct 28, 2024; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young (11) shown on the court before the start of the game against the Washington Wizards at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images
Oct 28, 2024; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young (11) shown on the court before the start of the game against the Washington Wizards at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images / Dale Zanine-Imagn Images
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After losing to Oklahoma City on Sunday night, the Hawks were hoping to come home and get a win vs the Washington Wizards and move to 3-1. They were going to be shorthanded against one of the projected worst teams in the NBA, but they were hoping that having guys like Trae Young and Jalen Johnson would be enough.

As it turns out though, it was not enough. The Wizards got hot in the second half and ended the game with 21 three-pointers made and got the worst game (by far) of the year from star point guard Trae Young and it resulted in the Wizards stealing a victory in Atlanta 121-119.

It can be hard to nail down why a team loses at times, but look no further than tonight's second half as evidence for why the Hawks lost. After leading by seven at halftime, the Hawks were outscored by nine in the second half. Washington was 13-25 from three in the second half, including a combined 8-14 from three from Kyle Kuzma and Corey Kispert. Three-point defense has been a problem for the Hawks through four games and it continued tonight.

The Wizards had problems with turnovers in the first half, but they cleaned it up in the second half. The Hawks on the other played extremely sloppy and careless in the second half, committing 11 turnovers, compared to five from Washington.

Free throw shooting was also a problem for Atlanta. The Hawks were 26-36 (72%) from the line tonight and in a game in which you lose by two points, every free throw matters.

This was the worst game by quite a bit for Young this year. He has been fantastic to start the year, but tonight he hit a brick wall. Give a lot of credit to Washington's Bilal Coulibaly for holding Young to 2-15 from the floor and 2-10 from three. He never found his shot and the final possession was a head scratcher.

The Hawks wasted a career night from Jalen Johnson as well. Johnson has had a tough start to the year, but he finished tonight's game with 29 points on 11-17 shooting, 12 rebounds, and seven assists.

This seemingly flew under the radar, but it was the first matchup of this year's No. 1 and No. 2 picks. It was not a stellar battle though. Risacher continued to struggle with his shot and went 1-8 tonight (1-4 from three) and had four points. Alex Sarr had seven points on 3-11 shooting and also had nine rebounds. Better days are ahead for both players, but it was not tonight.

At the end of the day, the Hawks lost a winnable game without having De'Andre Hunter, Onyeka Okongwu, Kobe Bufkin, and Bogdan Bogdanovic. To add to it, the Hawks lost Vit Krejci to injury during tonight's game. Couple that with hot three-point shooting from the Wizards and careless basketball from the Hawks, you have the recipe for a loss. Atlanta will get another shot at the Wizards on Wednesday in Washington.

Let's recap tonight's game.

The Hawks stuck with the same starting lineup they had vs Oklahoma City the night before. Trae Young, Dyson Daniels, Zaccharie Risacher, Jalen Johnson, and Clint Capela were the first five on the floor for the Hawks.

The Wizards started Jordan Poole, Bilal Coulibaly, Kyle Kuzma, Alex Sarr, and Jonas Valanciunas.

It was a great start for the Hawks in this game. They opened on a 12-2 run and Young was carving up the Wizards defense. He had six points and three assists in the first few minutes of the game.

The Hawks dominated the opening portion of the quarter, but Washington did bounce back nicely with a 13-4 run of their own to narrow the Hawks lead. Not surprisingly, it was Kyle Kuzma and Jordan Poole leading the way for the Wizards in the early going.

Much like last night, David Roddy was the first sub off the bench and Vit Krejci and Garrison Matthews soon joined him. There was one Hawks debut made tonight and it was Larry Nance, one of the Hawks offseason acquisitions. Nance nailed his first shot attempt and was a contributor early when he was on the floor.

Young led the effort in the first quarter and finished it with six points, five assists, and four rebounds. Johnson had six points and the Hawks shot 48% from the floor, but only 30% from three.

Carrington led the Wizards in scoring in the first quarter with eight points and Washington shot 39% from the field and 44% from three. Washington was the better team from three in the first quarter, but that advantage was negated by the fact they had nine turnovers compared to the Hawks two. Atlanta turned those nine turnovers into 13 points.

The second quarter started with the bench unit on the floor and Matthews had the first five points of the quarter. He would go on to have eight in the quarter and provided a spark off the bench.

The minutes when Young has been off the floor this year have been bad for the Hawks, but they were actually +9 tonight in the first stint without him. Matthews was scoring well and maybe best of all, Johnson had his best half of the season so far.

The bad news for the Hawks came in the second quarter when Krejci exited the game with a right adductor injury. He was ruled out for the game and that is a big blow to the Hawks, who are already down Bufkin, Okongwu, Hunter, and Bogdanovic. Keep an eye on his status going forward.

The main story for the Hawks in the second quarter was Johnson playing well. After struggling in the first three games, Johnson looked in control in all aspects in the first half.

The first half was perfectly capped off by Daniels getting a steal and then Caplea of all players leading the break down the court and getting the Hawks final basket.

Washington was hanging around though thanks to Poole, who scored 13 points in the second quarter and had 19 in the first half. The Hawks led the Wizards 61-54 at the half.

Johnson was the Hawks scoring leader with 12 and Young had nine points, nine assists, and four rebounds. Atlanta shot 49% from the field, 33% from three and also had the most steals in one half by any NBA team this season with 10.

Washington shot 44% from the field and 42% from three in the first half.

The Wizards opened the half on a 9-4 run and cut the Hawks lead to 65-63. The three point shot was the big reason the Wizards started hot in the quarter and they hit three of their first five attempts, while the Hawks were 1-4 to start the quarter.

Atlanta responded though with a 8-2 run of their own and got the lead back up to eight 73-65, but Kuzma had something in store for the Hawks. He scored nine straight points for the Wizards and all of a sudden, it was only a one-point game.

Coupled with the hot shooting from Kuzma and Corey Kispert, it was the Hawks who had a turnover problem in the third quarter. Atlanta committed 10 turnovers and the Wizards scored nine points off of them.

To start the fourth quarter, both teams exchanged making open three's. The Wizards hit three of their first four attempts and the Hawks hit three of their first five. Nance played a huge role to start the quarter and had five points and a pair of rebounds in the first few minutes of the final quarter.

The hot three-point shooting from the Wizards was the story of the second half and frankly, it was the story of the game. Kuzma was the hot hand in the fourth, but after the Hawks had battled back from a 110-101 deficit, it was Poole who the three to make it 118-112 with 50.1 seconds left. Poole's three came after the Hawks had a chance to tie the game, but Risacher missed an open three.

After Poole made his shot, the Hawks did close the gap thanks to Jalen Johnson and Trae Young making free throws. It was 118-116 with 16 seconds remaining and the Wizards had to inbound the ball. They got it to Sarr and instead of fouling Sarr, the Hawks let him get it to Poole, who hit both free throws to make it 120-116.

It was do or die for the Hawks and Daniels made a three to cut the lead to one point with seven seconds left. Atlanta was given life after Kispert split the pair of free throws and they trailed by two with six seconds left. Atlanta inbounded the ball to Young, who took a questionable three point shot and the game was over, Washington won and handed the Hawks their second straight loss to move them to 2-2.

Atlanta and Washington will play each other again on Wednesday.

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Jackson Caudell
JACKSON CAUDELL

Jackson Caudell has been covering Georgia Tech Athletics For On SI since March 2022 and the Atlanta Hawks for On SI since October 2023. Jackson is also the co-host of the Bleav in Georgia Tech podcast and he loves to bring thoughtful analysis and comprehensive coverage to everything that he does. Find him on X @jacksoncaudell

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