43-point Porzingis couldn’t help Wizards win over Hawks

Atlanta Hawks held off the Washington Wizards 122-120 on Wednesday night despite a career-high 43 points by Kristaps Porzingis. De’Andre Hunter’s three-point play with 1:07 remaining was crucial for the final result.

The teams will finish the two-game set in Washington on Friday night.

After Hunter put the Hawks up 117-114, Bradley Beal made just one of two free throws with 52.7 seconds left for Washington. Beal then stole the ball from Trae Young but couldn’t convert on the break, and Hunter’s two free throws pushed the lead to four.

“Happy with the effort and proud of, really as much as anything tonight, in my mind for our team, was about just competing,” Hawks coach Quin Snyder said. “I thought we really competed.”

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Porzingis made all five of his shot attempts in the fourth — including four 3-pointers — but his last-second 3 only cut the final deficit to two. He finished 17 of 22 from the field, 7 of 10 beyond the arc.

“He was unstoppable tonight,” Snyder said. “When he’s that big and he’s making contested 2s. I thought we gave him a few 3s.”