Atlanta Hawks Go On The Road and Defeat Washington 125-111, Moving to 2-0 Since the Trade Deadline

The Atlanta Hawks have played two games since the trade deadline on Thursday and they have won both of them. After beating Milwaukee at home last night, the Hawks went on the road to face the worst team in the NBA and they handled them with relative ease.

While Washington has only nine wins this season, two of them have come against the Hawks. Both teams were on the second nights of back-to-backs as well and Atlanta could not just assume they were going to get the win though. They handled their business on the road and have now won three of their last four games, building good momentum heading into the All-Star Break.

Six Hawks scored in double digits tonight, but it was Trae Young who led the way. Young had a great game, finishing with 35 points and 14 assists on 13-26 shooting. Zaccharie Risacher continues to play well and he had 18 points on 8-12 shooting. Overall, the Hawks shot 49% from the field and 41% from three.

This was also the debut of the three newest Hawks, Caris LeVert, Georges Niang, and Terance Mann. Niang was inserted into the starting lineup and scored 16 points tonight, providing the Hawks with needed floor spacing. LeVert had nine poitns, but got into foul trouble and only played 15 minutes tonight. Expect more from him going forward. Mann finished the night with four points and three assists in 24 minutes.

Atlanta is now 25-28 after this win and they head to Orlando for a game on Monday and then to New York to face the Knicks on Wednesday. Then the All-Star Break will be here and the Hawks can get ready for their stretch run.

The Hawks had a new starter in the lineup tonight. The recently acquired Georges Niang stepped into the lineup alongside Trae Young, Dyson Daniels, Zaccharie Risacher, and Onyeka Okongwu. Washington was down quite a few players of their own and had a different starting lineup than the Hawks had seen this season. Bub Carrington, Jordan Poole, Bilal Coulibaly, Justin Champagnie, and Richaun Holmes were the first five on the floor for the Wizards.

Both offenses sputtered coming out to start this game, which is not unexpected when you have two teams on the second night of a back-to-back. The Hawks led 10-6 at the first timeout with 7:21 left in the quarter, but Atlanta was shooting 4-13 and the Wizards were 3-11.

After the timeout though, Washington went on a 14-4 run to take a 20-14 lead. Champagnie and Poole were leading the way for the Wizards as they grabbed their first lead of the game. The rotation for the Hawks was going to be interesting tonight with the three new players playing for the first time in a Hawks uniform and Quin Snyder opted to use a nine man rotation, with LeVert, Mann, Nance, and Krejci getting the first run. Washington led 30-26 after the first quarter, despite shooting 1-8 from three. The Hawks shot 35% from the field and 36% from three. Champagnie led all scorers with 10 and Daniels led the Hawks with seven.

Caris connects for his first points as a Hawk! pic.twitter.com/dYqfQD0bMI
— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) February 9, 2025

Atlanta got the lead back with an 8-2 run to start the second quarter and they led 40-39 with 6:28 to go in the first half. The Hawks offense really got going in the second quarter and it was Young that led the way, scoring 17 of his 23 first-half points in the second quarter. The Hawks were 6-11 from three in the second quarter, compared to 2-8 from the Wizards, but Washington was getting the job done in the paint. They outscored the Hawks 18-8 in the paint and that helped make up the difference with the three-point disparity. Young guided the Hawks to outscore the Wizards 37-28 in the second quarter and take a 63-58 lead into the locker room.

The Hawks shot 43% from thre field and 44% from three in the first half, with Young scoring 23 points and handing out six assists. Washington shot 46% from the field, but 19% (3-16) from three, while also having ten turnovers. Coulibaly and Corey Kispert each had 11. One of the big reasons that Washington had such a big edge in the paint in the first half was due to the 31-21 rebounding advantage they held, including nine offensive rebounds.

After two quick threes from Risacher and Niang to start the quarter, Washington called a timeout trailing 69-58 and Atlanta starting to gain more momentum. The timeout did not help however.

After going 0-3 from three in the first half, Niang proceeded to hit his first four three point attempts. Not only that, but Risacher had seven quick points. The Hawks opened up the third quarter on a 25-13 run and 19 of those came from either Risacher or Niang. With 5:47 left in the quarter, Atlanta had its biggest lead of the game 88-71.

After Niang and Risacher got things started in the third quarter, Young continued to shred the Wizards defense. In a pair of losses to Washington earlier in the season, Coulibaly had done a really good job of guarding Young, but not tonight. Young had 10 points and seven assists in the third quarter alone and the Hawks led 104-83 heading into the final quarter. Atlanta shot 62% from the field and 50% from three while holding the Wizards to 2-10 from three in the third.

Niang shooting that thang 🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/Mh7I7E9Z7Y
— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) February 9, 2025

Washington was not going to go down quietly though. They started the fourth quarter on a 17-8 run, with 15 of those points coming from the backcourt duo of Poole and Carrington. Poole had been quiet through the first three quarters of this game following his 45 point outburst vs Cleveland last night, but he got the Wizards right back in the game after it looked like the Hawks were pulling away for good.

The Hawks responded thought and were able to pull away from the Wizards and win the game. Washington never had a real chance, even with Carrington and Poole combining for 25 points in the quarter. The Hawks won 125-111 and are now 2-0 since the trade deadline, 25-28 overall. They now head to Orlando for a pivotal matchup with the Magic on Monday. The Hawks have two more games before the All-Star Break, both on the road.

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