Beal, Wizards spoil Snyder’s Hawks debut with 119-116 win

ATLANTA (AP)— Returning to the bench for the first time in 10 months, QuinSnyder quickly got an idea of the challenge he faces with theAtlanta Hawks.

The enigmaticteam flopped down the stretch in Snyder’s Atlanta coaching debut,losing 119-116 to the Washington Wizards on Tuesday night.

Bradley Bealscored 37 points and Kyle Kuzma added 28 as the short-handedWizards stifled Trae Young and the Hawks when it mattered most.

Three drivesby the Atlanta star in the final 2 1/2 minutes were swatted away byDelon Wright, Daniel Gafford andKuzma.

Young madeonly 1 of 8 shots in the fourth quarter.

Kuzma alsohad a steal and dunkoff an errant pass from Young, giving theWizards their first lead since the second quarter.

“Down thestretch, I put my hard hat on,” Gafford said. “We really justfocused on getting stops at the end.”

Beal hit apull-up jumperwith 35.3 seconds left that pushed the Wizardsto a 117-113 lead.

Young, whopaced Atlanta with 31 points, finally got one to go with acontested 3-pointer that pulled the Hawks within a single pointwith 30.6 remaining.

But Beal wentto work again. With the shot clock running down, he drove onDejounte Murray, deking left before cutting right to bank in hisfinal points of the night.

“A thing ofart,” Gafford marveled.

It was justenough. Young had a couple of chances to send the game to overtime,getting the ball back after a long rebound off a missed 3-pointer,but his second attempt beyond the arc also rimmed out.

“We did agood job of staying resilient,” Beal said. “We just find a way towin.”

The Hawkshope Snyder can provide a spark for an underachieving squad thatseems headed for a second straight appearance in the play-intournament.

For his firstnight, at least, it was just another exasperating loss.

“I stillgetting to know the team,” said Snyder, who was officially hired 48hours earlier. “You saw some of that tonight.”

With injuredKristaps Porzingis watching from bench, the Wizards knocked off theHawks with essentially a two-man team at the offensive end.

Gaffordscored 13 points and was the only other Washington player in doublefigures.

Snyder spenteight seasons as Utah’s coach before resigning last June after theJazz were eliminated in the opening round of the playoffs.

The56-year-old Snyder says he left coaching to spend more time withhis family, butthe chance to lead theHawkslured him back to the sideline sooner thanexpected.

He’s got hiswork cut out for him.

“We’llcontinue to build on it, work on it,” he said.

Atlanta fired NateMcMillanafter limping into the All-Star break with a29-30 record — far below what was expected from a team that reachedthe Eastern Conference final just two seasons ago.

Joe Pruntyguided the Hawks to a pair of victories as interim coach beforeSnyder reached agreement on a five-year deal. Prunty remains withthe team as Snyder’s top assistant.

STANDINGS CHECK

Atlanta iseighth in the East, remaining 3 1/2 games behind Brooklyn for atop-six finish that would avoid the play-in tournament.

Washingtonmoved 1 1/2 games ahead of the Bulls for the final play-inberth.

TIP-INS

Wizards: Bealmade 17 of 30 shots and alsohad seven assists, while Kuzma was 10of 26 from the field. ... Washington snapped a two-game losingstreak. ... Porzingis (sore left knee) and Monte Morris (lower backsoreness) were both out for the second game in a row. ... Gaffordhad 12 rebounds and Deni Avdija pulled down 13 as the Wizardscontrolled the boards 48-42.

Hawks: Youngcommitted a silly blunder at the end of the first half, needlesslyfouling Wright as he threw up a desperation heave from half-courtjust ahead of the buzzer. After reviewing the replay, the officialsruled the foul occurred 0.9 seconds ahead of the buzzer. Wrightknocked down all three free throws to cut Atlanta’s lead to 56-52at the break. ... Atlanta briefly had a 10-point lead midwaythrough the third quarter — the largest margin for either team. ...Seven Hawks scored in double figures, including Clint Capela with13 points to go along with 15 rebounds.

UPNEXT

Wizards:Return to D.C. for the start of a three-game homestand against theToronto Raptors on Thursday night. Those same teams will meet againSaturday.

Hawks: Wrapup a five-game homestand wrapped around the All-Star break whenthey host the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday night. Atlantahasn’t played a road game since Feb. 13.