RECAP: Wizards Use Another Strong Second Half-Run To Defeat Atlanta 133-120

Washington outscored Atalnta by 21 points in the second half send the Hawks to their third straight loss

Oct 30, 2024; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Atlanta Hawks forward Zaccharie Risacher (10) dunks the ball as Washington Wizards center Jonas Valanciunas (17) and Wizards forward Marvin Bagley III (35) look on in the first half at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images / Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

Atlanta was hoping to put Monday's loss to the Washington Wizards behind them when they faced them again tonight, but it was deja vu for the Hawks. After leading Washington at halftime, the Hawks were outscored by 21 points in the second half in a 133-120 loss. It was another night where the Wizards caught fire from three in the second half and played a near perfect fourth quarter.

It should be pointed out that the Hawks were once again really shorthanded tonight, but this was another gut punch against what is supposed to be one of the worst teams (if not the worst) in the NBA. This is now the third straight loss for the Hawks and all of the good feeling that they build up from the first two games has been vanquished. This is a team that now must figure out how to manage the next month or so until they can get back to full strength. Dyson Daniels, De'Andre Hunter, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Kobe Bufkin, and Vit Krejci were out tonight for Atlanta. For context, four of the Hawks five top ball handlers were out tonight, with Young being the only one not hurt. Atlanta got some good minutes tonight from Keaton Wallace, who scored eight points on 3-3 shooting, but having to rely on a two-way guard this early in the year is not a recipe for success.

It was a better night for Trae Young, but he disappeared in the second half and the Hawks offense cratered without him. He finished with 35 points on 12-28 shooting and also had 15 assists. It was his third 30-point, 10-assist game of the year. Jalen Johnson followed up his strong game on Monday with another nice night, scoring 21 points and grabbing 17 rebounds. Zaccharie Risacher and David Roddy both scored 17. The Hawks finished the game shooting 47% from the floor and 30% from three.

This was almost a carbon copy of the first game for the Wizards, other than the fact they were without Kyle Kuzma tonight.

Bilal Coulibaly has had a tremendous week for the Wizards and he was even better tonight than he was on Monday. He played solid defense on Young, but his offense was the best part of his game tonight. He finished with 27 points on 11-14 shooting and 3-5 on threes.

It was not just Coulibaly though. Jordan Poole scored 24 points, Bub Carrington scored 16, Corey Kispert had 16 off the bench, and Jonas Valanciunas had 22 off the bench. Valanciunas was huge in the second half, scoring 18 of his 22 points.

In the fourth quarter, Washington shot 71% from the floor and 67% from three. They outscored the Hawks 76-55 in the second half to secure the win.

There was not a whole lot of difference between tonight's game and Monday's. The Hawks started strong and looked like the better team in the first half, even with the injuries, then just utterly collapse in the second half. Right now, not only do the Hawks have to hope they can start to get healthy, but they have to play better as well. There is a chance they get Dyson Daniels and De'Andre Hunter are back Friday night vs Sacramento.