The shorthanded Washington Wizards played hard on the second night of a back-to-back but couldn’t keep pace with the Atlanta Hawks over the course of four quarters. Final score: Hawks 136, Wizards 108.
After three straight games of scoring 24 points or more, Jordan Poole was a late scratch for Saturday night’s game due to left ankle soreness. Corey Kispert got the start in place of Poole and made sure to put his immediate mark on the game. He was aggressive with the ball in his hands, hunting for his shot, and making plays attacking closeouts. In Kispert’s first start of the season, he scored 10 first-half points.
Daniel Gafford was another major force in the first half. He led the team in scoring with 12 points on 6-of-6 shooting from the field to go along with two boards and two blocks.
The Hawks did a nice job of playing scrappy defense with active hands and forcing turnovers all night long. In the first half, the Wizards turned the ball over 12 times and the Hawks scored 21 points off of those turnovers. For the game, the Wizards committed 20 turnovers, allowing the Hawks to build up their lead as time ticked on. After three quarters, the Hawks held a 107-78 lead, making everything academic in the fourth.
Kyle Kuzma played a balanced game in his 25 minutes, notching 12 points, eight assists, and seven rebounds.
“The turnovers and offensive rebounds, those were two areas that I think really hurt us,” said Wizards head coach Wes Unseld Jr. “Tough shooting night of course, but you can’t give a really good offensive team second-chance points. A lot of the turnovers were a little bit playing in crowds. We got static at times. But minimizing those miscues would’ve helped.”
Next up for the Wizards is a road game in Detroit on Monday.
Leave a Reply