The Washington Wizards were on the sidelines as the league began the Emirates NBA Cup.
The Wizards are in East Group C along with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Chicago Bulls and the two teams in action on Tuesday night — the Atlanta Hawks and Boston Celtics.
As the defending league champions, the Celtics were seen as massive favorites at home against the Hawks, who were playing without All-Star point guard Trae Young. However, the Hawks found a way to come back and escape Beantown with a 117-116 win.
The Hawks trailed 91-84 going into the fourth quarter, but that didn’t matter to Atlanta as Jalen Johnson, Onyeka Okongwu and Dyson Daniels helped fuel a massive comeback to stun the Celtics at home.
Johnson had a triple-double with 18 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists while Daniels had 28 points and six steals for the Hawks. The Celtics had 37 points from Jaylen Brown, 31 from Derrick White and Jayson Tatum added 20 of his own.
The win gives the Hawks an early lead in Group C play, but a one-point victory doesn’t do much for point differential purposes.
The upset proves that any result can happen in the NBA Cup, and it gives opportunities for young teams like the Hawks to be competitive in a season when they otherwise wouldn’t be.
That should be music to the Wizards’ ears, and give them an opportunity to perhaps slide into the competitive nature that the tournament provides. The only downside is that the Celtics may be playing with a little more oomph against the Wizards later this month, but that should be an opportunity Washington welcomes.
The Wizards are the next team on the schedule for the Hawks in the NBA Cup group stage on Friday at State Farm Arena.
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