Bradley Beal scored 28 points and grabbed nine rebounds, and John Wall shook off a scoreless first half to finish with 22 points and 10 assists as the Washington Wizards defeated the Atlanta Hawks 104-100 at Verizon Center Wednesday night.
After a sluggish first half and shooting just 34 percent from the floor, the Wizards woke up in the second half, scoring 64 after the break.
Wall shot just 6-21 from the field, but still notched his 46th double-double of the season, tied for seventh in the NBA with Hawks center Dwight Howard.
“John did not have his shot falling for him, but he still played a defensive game and he passed the ball with 10 assists,” said Wizards head coach Scott Brooks. “I told him this earlier morning, ‘You can dominate the game with your defense and passing.’ I like that fact that he was still defending and making plays for his team.”
Brooks praised the entire team’s defensive effort that forced the Hawks (37-34) to shoot 39.5 percent from the floor and outrebounded them 55-44.
The Wizards (43-28) committed 18 turnovers in the first three quarters, but just one in the fourth quarter as Beal and Wall heated up, scoring six and 10 points, respectively.
The Wizards reserves also outscored the Hawks bench, 27-24, led by center Ian Mahinmi with four points and 10 rebounds in 20 minutes.
“Ian has been great for us,” Wall said. “Ian gives us another presence that can block shots and defends for us and rebound. He’s bringing a presence we’ve been missing all season.”
The win snapped a two-game losing streak for Washington, which had dropped four of its previous five games before Wednesday.
The Wizards host the league-worst Brooklyn Nets (14-56) Friday before beginning a nine-day, five-game road trip Saturday against the defending NBA champions Cleveland Cavaliers (46-24).
Eight of the Wizards’ last 11 regular season games are on the road. Washington currently sit in third place in the Eastern Conference, one game ahead of the Toronto Raptors and 1.5 games behind the second-place Boston Celtics.
