The Wizards will host the Hawks on Friday in an Eastern Conference battle. This will be a rematch from Wednesday’s game that the Hawks won 122-120 in Washington.
The latest injury updates Atlanta Hawks and Washington Wizards
The Washington Wizards host the Atlanta Hawks for the second time in as many games on Friday in a game with major NBA playoff implications for both teams.
On Wednesday, the eighth and tenth ranked teams in the Eastern Conference, Atlanta and Washington respectively, met in a showdown. The No. 8 Hawks beat the No. 10 Wizards 122-120 on Thursday.
The Hawks’ season scoring leader Trae Young scored 28 points on Wednesday and added 10 assists.
Obviously it’s just one game, but I knew it was going to work for me eventually,” Young said to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Clearly, you’re giving it your all on one end and trying to match that intensity on the other. I’m happy my offense could keep up with my defense tonight.”
Young had his best shooting performance of the season, making 11 of 14 shots from the floor (a 50 percent clip or better) for the second game in a row after a stretch of seven games in which he shot less than 47 percent.
After Wednesday’s win, Atlanta is now 1 1/2 games behind Miami for first place among the four Eastern play-in berths and even with the season’s average. After starting their current four-game road swing with a pair of losses to the Heat in Miami, the Hawks will return home for the final game of the swing on Friday.
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During the first of two losses to the Heat, Young scored only eight points.
Following Wednesday’s games, Washington trails the Hawks by two games and the Raptors by a half game for ninth place heading into Friday’s contest. The Wizards and the Raptors played twice last week, with the teams splitting the two games.
On Wednesday, Kristaps Porzingis matched his career high with 43 points.
After missing the final two games of February with a knee injury, he has been outstanding through the first five games of March.
This month Porzingis is shooting 57.6 percent from the field and 85.0 percent from the free throw line for an average of 27.6 points, 8.2 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 3.0 three-pointers, 1.2 blocks, and 0.6 steals in 36.4 minutes per game.
If Washington were to win on Friday, they would take a 2-1 lead in the season series with one game remaining on April 5. Even though Porzingis was not playing, the Wizards were able to pull out a 119-116 victory in Atlanta on February 28.
No injuries have been reported for either team, so both should start their best players.
