Young has 25 as Hawks gain momentum, beat Wizards 134-116

ATLANTA (AP) — Trae Young returned aftermissing one game with the flu and scored 25 points and had 16assists to help the travel-weary Atlanta Hawks overwhelmshorthanded Washington 134-116 on Wednesday night.

With the win, the Hawks achieved a modest milestone as theyprepare for the postseason. The Hawks (41-39) ended a streak of 33games being within 1 game of .500.

The Nets defeated the Pistons and guaranteed that the Hawkscannot finish as the No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference and willbe in the conference play-in tournament for the second straightseason. Atlanta holds the No. 8 seed and has a one-game lead overNo. 9 Toronto.

The Hawks overcame travel issues that forced the team to flyfrom Chicago on Wednesday morning after plane difficulties causedthe team to stay in Chicago on Tuesday night. Arriving in Atlantaat 2 p.m., the Hawks hit the court five and half hours later.

“It was definitely an unusual schedule,” AJ Griffin said. “Coach(Quin Snyder) handled it well. He set the tone. We knew we just hadto play hard and get through the day.”

John Collins had 23 points and put the Hawks in control with astellar sequence in the third quarter. Collins scooped up a looseball before throwing down a reverse jam, then buried a 3-pointer onthe next possession that gave the Hawks an 85-71 lead.

The Hawks did not trail for the game’s final 29 minutes and shot43.3 percent from 3-point range.

Wizards center Daniel Gafford had a career-high 25 points andgrabbed 10 rebounds.

Hawks reserve Jalen Johnson continued his recent string ofstrong play, matching his career high of 16 points, set theprevious night in a win over the Bulls. Johnson also had 8rebounds.

The Wizards played without out six of their top eight rotationplayers, including 20-plus point scorers Bradley Beal, KristapsPorzingis and Kyle Kuzma as they play out the string followingtheir elimination from playoff contention.

“I thought offensively, we did some good things,” said Wizardscoach Wes Unseld Jr. “We moved the ball with pretty good pace. Wewere sharing the ball as best we can. We had some good looks thatdidn’t go down, but I’m more concerned with the defensivestuff.”

BENCH BOOST

Snyder talked about his “deep” bench prior to Wednesday’s game,and the group backed up his assessment right away. Led by Johnson,Atlanta had 15 points from its bench in the first quarter after theHawks got off to a sluggish start in the opening minutes. Johnsonand Griffin finished with 16 points apiece.

“We have a lot of guys who are prepared,” Snyder said. “Thereare limited minutes and some tough decisions have to be made. Oneof the tings about our bench is the acceptance of a role. To putthe team first is not something you take for granted.”

Snyder inserted guard Aaron Holiday for Young just six minutesinto the game. The Hawks responded with a quick burst.

Holiday, who played just two minutes on Tuesday, had eightpoints and four assists in 21 minutes.

TIP-INS

Wizards: First-round pick Johnny Davis started his thirdstraight game and has averaged 18.7 points in his three starts.Davis scored 20 points each of his past two games. The rookie fromWisconsin averaged 11.6 points in 19 G League games and has played26 games with the Wizards.

Hawks: De’Andre Hunter missed his fourth straight game with aknee injury. Hunter has started 65 games this season. ... BogdanBogdanovic did not play due to right knee injury management. He ledthe Hawks with 26 points in Tuesday night’s win at Chicago. ... TheHawks scored over 100 points for the 55th straight game, extendingtheir team record.

UP NEXT

Wizards: Host Miami on Friday night.

Hawks: Host Philadelphia on Friday night.