Hawks go cold down the stretch, lose 119-116 to Wizards in Snyder’s debut

The Atlanta Hawks were at home on Tuesday to take on the Washington Wizards. Unfortunately, the Hawks went cold late in the fourth and lost 119-116.

The sidelines looked a bit different for the Hawks as Quin Snyder coached his first game for the team. To start the game, John Collins went coast to coast for a layup to tie the game early.

It the Hawks some time to warm up, as the three-pointers started to fall late in the quarter. Once again turning defense to offense, De’Andre Hunter blocked a shot and Bogdan Bogdanovic pulled up in transition.

Going into the second quarter, the Hawks and Wizards were both tied, but the Wizards continued their solid shooting from the field to take the lead through the quarter. Onyeka Okongwu did what he does best, being active around the glass and getting the and-1.

Clint Capela caught a body midway through the second thanks to a perfect alley-top pass from Trae Young.

The hawks turned up the intensity down the stretch of the second and took the lead. Young led the way for Hawks scorers in the first half with 10 points, which included this and-1. Going into halftime, the Hawks led 56-52.

Young started off the second half strong with 10 early points, increasing the Hawks lead.

The Hawks started to take their foot off the pedal a bit down the stretch of the third, and the Wizards took advantage, trimming their deficit. Going into the fourth, the Hawks led 90-85.

It was a good start to the fourth for the Hawks, as Bogdanovic came out firing from deep. Kyle Kuzma started to get into a groove, but the Hawks had an answer for every punch he threw. The Wizards continued to trim the lead, and eventually saw themselves down by one point with less than four minutes left.

With less than 2 minutes left, the Wizards led by two points. The Hawks offense stalled, and the Wizards went up 117-113 with 35 seconds left. Out of the timeout, the Hawks went quick and Young knocked down a three with 30 seconds left, trailing 117-116.

The Wizards answered, and with 8.9 seconds left led 119-116. The Hawks had two tries at tying the game, but were unsuccessful.

Young finished with 31 points, and the Hawks finished with seven players in double digits.

The Hawks will be back in action on Friday to face the Portland Trail Blazers.

Stay tuned.