The Atlanta Hawks had a perfect opportunity to extend their winning streak to three, but they were caught off guard by the now 2-15 Washington Wizards and had a blow out loss. Now, the Hawks will look to put that loss behind them with a Black Friday matchup against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Cleveland and Atlanta matched up one time this season in Cleveland with the Cavaliers coming out on top.
Ahead of tomorrow’s game, the Hawks have released their injury report. Trae Young remains out for the Hawks.
Hawks injury report for Friday against Cleveland:
Trae Young (knee) remains out.
N’Faly Dante (left knee MCL sprain) is out.
Nikola Đurišić (right elbow sprain) is out. https://t.co/Ve5ISKfHeF
— Brad Rowland (@BTRowland) November 27, 2025Just one bad game?
Nov 25, 2025; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Washington Wizards guard CJ McCollum (3) drives to the basket as Atlanta Hawks forward Jalen Johnson (1) and Hawks guard Dyson Daniels (5) defend in the second half at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images | Geoff Burke-Imagn Images
The Hawks defense has had moments of looking like one of the league’s best with Trae Young sidelined, but they have had some really bad games in the past couple of weeks. They gave up 122 points to Utah, 135 to San Antonio, and last night, they nearly gave up 140 points to the Wizards. Allowing McCollum to have the kind of night that he did is inexcusable.
This also was a tough schedule spot for the Hawks. It was the 10th straight game after which they get on a plane, 3rd game in 4 nights in 3 cities, and 17th game in last 31 days.
This was also another tough game for Kristaps Porzingis on the defensive end. Yes, he led the Hawks in scoring and was able to use his size effectively on that end of the floor, but he has struggled to guard in space on the defensive end. It is not just one game though and the Hawks might want to think about moving him to come off the bench and start Onyeka Okongwu, who has been the better of the two bigs this season.
Now on Sunday against the Hornets, Hawks guard Dyson Daniels had his best offensive game of the season, scoring 22 points, grabbing nine rebounds, and dishing out six assists. Last night though, the offensive struggles returned for Daniels, who has not played well on that end of the court this season. He scored 11 points on 5-11 shooting last night.
The Hawks are also missing Trae Young, who could be back soon. I think this performance showed some issues that have been plaguing the Hawks this season and they are going to have to figure some things out, especially when it comes to Porzingis and Daniels, who have just simply not been good enough for the Hawks this season.
However, I don’t think the sky is falling, even though this was a horrible performance against the league’s worst team. The Wizards had an unbelievable shooting night that they are almost certainly not going to replicate at any other point this season. The sky is not falling for the Hawks, but there are some glaring issues that they are going to have to address even with Young possibly nearing a return.
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