Kentavious Caldwell-Pope led Washington with 28 points.
The Washington Wizards came back from a double digit deficit, but lost 117-114 to the Atlanta Hawks on Friday night.
The first half of this game wasn’t bad in some respects. Kyle Kuzma and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored a combined 26 of the Wizards’ 59 points. Washington dished 19 assists out of 24 made shots. They also only committed 5 turnovers.
Only problem? They allowed the Hawks to score 9 points off those turnovers and fouled the Hawks 15 times, allowing Atlanta to go 17-of-19 from the free throw line. That allowed the Hawks to end up the half with a 68-59 lead.
These trends persisted into the second half as the Hawks were able head into the fourth quarter with a 93-84 lead. They were able to remain ahead by double digits as late as 4:08 left in the fourth quarter before the Wizards were able to make their run to turn their deficit to a one possession game after some late threes by Caldwell-Pope and Avdija. They were down 115-114 with just 5 seconds left but Trae Young closed the game out at the free throw line. He had 25 points and De’Andre Hunter led Atlanta with 26.
For the Wizards, Caldwell-Pope had 28 points on 10-of-12 shooting and Kuzma added 22 points. Rui Hachimura came off the bench to add 19 more points.
In short, this wasn’t a bad game if it weren’t for the big free throw disparity where the Wizards only attempted nine shots while Atlanta had 34. If this free throw margin was a bit more even, Washington would have led at some point in the game, if not win it outright.
The Wizards’ next game is on Sunday when they play the Indiana Pacers. Tip-off is at 6 p.m. ET.