The Atlanta Hawks will try to build on the momentum from their two previous wins when they host the Washington Wizards on Wednesday night.
Atlanta has won back-to-back games, rolling by 17 points at Milwaukee on Sunday and then erasing a 19-point halftime deficit to beat Minnesota 127-113 on Monday.
Washington was routed 126-107 by Boston on Monday and will begin a four-game trip in Atlanta.
This will be the first of four meetings between the Wizards and Hawks. The Hawks won three of the four meetings last season, and the teams split the two games in Atlanta.
The Hawks’ dramatic comeback on Monday was fueled by Dejounte Murray, who matched his career high with 41 points — 22 in the third quarter. It was the first time he scored at least 20 points this season.
“It’s never easy to come back from that sort of deficit. We rode him all night,” Atlanta guard Trae Young said.
Young scored a season-high 24 points — even though he was only 1-for-7 on 3-pointers — and had eight assists. He is averaging 21.3 points a game and seems to have accepted the concept of being the team’s floor leader instead of needing to score 30 points each game.
“I’ve led the league in points and assists, so it’s more about wins and losses,” Young said. “That’s all I’m focused on.”
Young is averaging 25.3 points and 8.9 assists in 17 career games against Washington.
The Wizards hope to avoid the sort of bad start that cost them Monday, when they trailed the Celtics by 26 points just 10 minutes into the game.
“Obviously, first quarter, game over,” Washington coach Wes Unseld Jr. said. “We played on our heels most of that quarter.”
Washington’s scoring has been led by Kyle Kuzma, who is averaging 22.3 points per game, and newcomer Jordan Poole (18.7). The two are still trying to sort out their roles on the floor.
Kuzma is coming off a season in which he set career highs in average minutes played (35), points (21.2) and assists (3.7). He has 20-plus points in all three of his team’s games this season. Kuzma is averaging 17.1 points and 6.0 rebounds in 13 career games against the Hawks.
Poole averaged career highs of 20.4 points and 4.5 assists last season with Golden State. He is averaging 14.4 points and 4.7 assists in seven career games against Atlanta.
“They have to figure out — and I’ve got to help them figure out — the flow and balance of that,” Unseld said. “If they’ve made two or three or are really rolling, take those shots. They’re capable of it, and we’ve seen them do it at a high rate. So you don’t want to stifle the aggressiveness.”
The Wizards might be without Daniel Gafford, who is dealing with an ankle sprain and did not play Monday against Boston. Gafford shot a franchise-record 73.2 percent from the field last season.
The Hawks have scored 100-plus points in a franchise-best 61 straight games, a streak that began on Dec. 9, 2022.
–Field Level Media
