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Hawks strive for two-game sweep of Wizards



On Friday, for the second time in as many games, the Washington Wizards host the Atlanta Hawks in a matchup with significant NBA play-in round implications. Atlanta and Washington locked up on Wednesday in a showdown between teams currently sitting at eighth and 10th in the Eastern Conference standings. The No. 8 Hawks scored a 122-120 win over the Wizards, who are No. 10 entering Thursday’s play.

At 11-of-14 from the floor, Hawks star Trae Young delivered his best shooting performance of the season and had his second consecutive game connecting on better than 50 percent of his attempts after seven straight outings in which he made less than 47 percent.

Wednesday’s victory improved Atlanta to .500 on the season and 1 1/2 games behind Miami for the top spot among the four play-in berths in the East. The Hawks opened a four-game road swing that concludes with Friday’s contest by playing the Heat twice in Miami — both Atlanta losses.

Young scored just eight points in the first of the two defeats against the Heat.

Washington now heads into Friday’s contest trailing the Hawks by two games and ninth-place Toronto by a half-game through Wednesday’s action. The Wizards split back-to-back contests with the Raptors last week but have lost three of four overall.