ATLANTA — Dyson Daniels continued his scoring surge with 25 points and the Atlanta Hawks beat the Washington Wizards 129-117 on Friday night to improve to 2-0 in the NBA Cup.
Kyle Kuzma led Washington with 24 points. Jordan Poole had 22 and rookie Alex Sarr added a career-high 20 points. Despite the trio’s scoring leadership, the Wizards’ NBA Cup opener was their seventh consecutive loss.
Washington is now 2-9 with both wins against Atlanta in the first four games of the season.
Coming off a career-high 28 points in Tuesday night’s 117-116 win at defending NBA champion Boston, Daniels made 10 of 14 shots from the field and paced the defense with six steals.
Jalen Johnson scored 18 points with 13 rebounds and seven assists for Atlanta. Trae Young had 18 points and nine assists.
Wizards: Sarr, the No. 2 pick in this year’s NBA draft, added seven rebounds and four steals. Atlanta’s Zaccharie Risacher, the No. 1 selection, had 11 points, in the matchup of the top two picks from France.
Hawks: Forward De’Andre Hunter scored 22 points in 21 minutes in his return for Atlanta after missing 10 games with right knee injury management and personal family reasons. Risacher again started at small forward, which had been Hunter’s spot. Young started after missing one game with right Achilles tendinitis.
After the Wizards took a 39-29 lead into the second quarter, Johnson’s three-point play capped a 12-0 run that gave Atlanta a 54-43 lead. The Hawks outscored the Wizards 30-11 in the second period.
Young set up Daniels for a 3-pointer early in the third quarter for Young’s 4,000th career assist. Young passed Doc Rivers last season for the most assists in franchise history.
The Hawks visit Portland while Washington returns home to play Detroit on Sunday.
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