A pair of familiar foes meet on Friday for the third time already this season, as the Atlanta Hawks host the Washington Wizards in pool play of the NBA Cup.
Washington’s only two wins are against Atlanta, as the Wizards beat their Southeast Division rivals 121-119 on the road Oct. 28 and 133-120 at home on Oct. 30. Now matching up as East: Group C opponents for the second NBA in-season event, Washington will look to end its six-game losing streak.
Last time out, the Wizards fell to the San Antonio Spurs 139-130 as Jordan Poole’s 42 points were topped by Victor Wembanyama’s career-high 50 points. Washington trailed 122-101 with seven minutes left, but Poole’s layup trimmed its deficit to six with 1:40 remaining before ultimately falling.
“One thing that we’ve talked about with our group is resiliency,” Wizards head coach Brian Keefe said. “We did not start the game well, but we answered the bell and came back. (San Antonio) made a run in the fourth, and we cut it close at the end. Good progress with our team, but no more moral victories for us.”
Poole’s 42 points were his most since being traded to Washington in the 2023 offseason. Through ten games this season, Poole has averaged 22.2 points per contest to lead the team, up from his 17.4 per game last season.
“This is how we want Jordan to play, aggressive,” Keefe said. “He puts pressure on the defense. That opens up the game for everybody else.”
Alongside Poole, Kyle Kuzma is averaging 15.8 points per game, followed by Bilal Coulibaly’s 15.3. Playing mostly off the bench, Washington’s Jonas Valancuinas has averaged 12.7 points with a team-best 7.8 rebounds.
The Hawks are fresh off their best win of the season, stunning the defending champion Boston Celtics 117-116 on Tuesday in each team’s first NBA Cup group-play game. Atlanta, which entered after losing three of four games, beat host Boston without Trae Young (Achilles tendinitis). Young leads the team with 23.9 points and 11.5 assists.
Jalen Johnson helped to fill Young’s absence with an 18-point, 12-rebound, 10-assist triple-double, Dyson Daniels added 28 points, seven assists and six steals.
Daniels, who was traded to Atlanta as part of the deal that sent Dejounte Murray to the New Orleans Pelicans, has brought a much-needed defensive mindset to the Hawks.
Atlanta allowed 120.5 points per game last season, tied for second most in the NBA only to Washington. The Hawks added Daniels in hopes of creating havoc for opposing offenses and he has delivered 23 steals in his last four outings, increasing his league-leading total to 3.6 steals per game. The Wizards’ Poole is second at 2.3 steals.
“His ability to impact the game is unique,” Hawks head coach Quin Snyder said of Daniels. “He’s got a good sense of how to be solid and not gamble, but to also use his anticipation opportunistically to impact the game with steals. He’s appreciated on a lot of levels.”
Offensively, Daniels has seen his scoring jump from 5.8 points to 14.3 points per game this season. Following Johnson’s second-career triple-double, the fourth-year player is averaging 19.0 points and a team-best 10.2 rebounds per game.
–Field Level Media
