WASHINGTON – Bradley Beal scored 35 points as the Washington Wizards held off the Atlanta Hawks, 118-112 on Friday night.
Beal was 13-of-21 from the field, including 7-for-10 from 3-point range, where the Wizards went 15-of-31.
Washington held on despite squandering most of a 19-point fourth-quarter lead.
“We had the game in a pretty good spot, and then we kind of relaxed,” Wizards coach Scott Brooks said. “When you relax, teams get hot, make a 3, make a couple of 3s, and then they got hot. But I thought we made some big plays down the stretch.”
Davis Bertans added 17 points and Jerome Robinson 14 for Washington, which began the night 4 1/2 games behind the Orlando Magic for eighth place in the Eastern Conference.
Atlanta rookie Cam Reddish scored 28 points, his most as a Hawk, on 11-of-17 shooting.
John Collins added 26 points and 10 rebounds, Kevin Huerter had 14 points and 11 assists and De’Andre Hunter chipped in 10 points and nine rebounds for Atlanta, which was without All-Star point guard Trae Young (flu-like symptoms), the team’s leading scorer this season.
“We battled back,” Huerter said. “In the fourth quarter we switched up on defense a little bit, and Cam got hot offensively. He really got going for us, but we dug ourselves a hole too early in the game. Too many turnovers early. You can’t expect to come back all the time from stuff like that.”
A 3-pointer by Reddish followed by four straight points from Collins cut the Wizards’ lead to 107-102 with 2:46 left. Reddish added another 3 to make it 109-105.
With Washington ahead 114-110, Rui Hachimura, who finished with three points and was 0-for-6 from the field, grabbed an offensive rebound, was fouled and made both free throws with 52 seconds remaining.
“That was a game-winning play, whether he realizes it or not,” Beal said. “They went on a hell of a run, and that basically sealed the game and he knocked down the free throws to. That was a big rebound.”
Collins’ free throws got the Hawks within four again with 16 seconds left, but Washington’s Robinson made two at the line after that, Atlanta’s Hunter missed a 3 and Robinson got the rebound to end it.
“Fun basketball game,” Hawks coach Lloyd Pierce said. “Thought our guys competed at a really high level tonight. It was good to see an energetic group. Trying to throw different looks at (Washington) defensively. The activity and the ball movement, the pop that our guys had tonight was tremendous.”