Trae Young collected 30 points and 12 assists, reserve Onyeka Okongwu added a career-high 28 points as the Atlanta Hawks surged ahead in the fourth quarter and held on for a 120-116 victory over the visiting Brooklyn Nets in the season opener for both teams on Wednesday.
Young scored 12 points in the final quarter when the Hawks nearly blew an eight-point edge in the final 20.9 seconds. Young shot 7-for-16 from the floor and hit 14 of 16 free-throw attempts. Atlanta went to the line 46 times and made 33.
Okongwu had his way inside, sinking 11 of 12 shots, including four dunks as the Hawks scored 37 points in the fourth. Dyson Daniels contributed 15 in his Atlanta debut, De’Andre Hunter chipped in 12, Jalen Johnson finished 11 and top overall pick Zaccharie Risacher added seven for the Hawks, who shot 48.8 percent on field-goal attempts.
Cam Thomas led all scorers with 36 points and scored 20 in the final quarter for the Nets, who committed 32 fouls in the coaching debut of Jordi Fernandez. Jalen Wilson added 16, Cameron Johnson finished with 14 and Dennis Schroder had 13.
Ben Simmons, returning from back surgery performed in March, totaled six points and eight rebounds in 24 minutes but was among three Nets with five fouls. He also committed six turnovers.
After the teams entered the fourth in an 83-83 tie, the Hawks held a 93-89 lead when Nic Claxton was ejected for a flagrant-2 foul on Daniels with 8:03 left. Claxton hit Daniels across the face and was kicked out following a review.
Atlanta took a 104-95 lead on Okongwu’s dunk with 5:53 left and held a 106-97 edge after two free throws by Young a little over a minute later. The lead was 110-102 when Okongwu hit a putback layup with 3:12 left, and Brooklyn trailed 112-108 after Cameron Johnson sank two free throws with 73 seconds remaining.
The Nets got within 118-116 when Thomas stole the ball from Jalen Johnson and hit a 3-pointer with 3.8 seconds left, but Young sank two free throws to seal it.
The Hawks took an early nine-point lead and held a 30-24 edge after the opening quarter as Young had six assists. The Nets scored 10 straight early in the second and held a 55-51 lead by halftime before taking an eight-point edge early in the third.
–Field Level Media