Young's 31 points help Hawks rout Hornets to sweep season series

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Trae Young scored 31 points, Dyson Daniels added 22 points, seven rebounds and seven assists and the Atlanta Hawks clobbered the short-handed Charlotte Hornets 134-102 on Tuesday night to sweep the four-game season series.

Zaccharie Risacher knocked down four 3s in the second half to finish with 21 points for the Hawks, who snapped a two-game skid.

DaQuan Jeffries and Seth Curry each had 19 points for Charlotte, which played without LaMelo Ball and Miles Bridges.

The Hawks led 70-57 at halftime, then Risacher hit four 3s in the third quarter — including three on three consecutive possessions — to quickly push the lead to 26. Atlanta’s lead ballooned to 100-65 late in the third quarter after Young hit a deep 3.

Risacher finished the third quarter with 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting, along with three rebounds, a block and an assist.

Takeaways

Hawks: The Hawks entered the night 5 1/2 games behind the Detroit Pistons for sixth place in the East but still have time to make a run at them. But they'll need to win the easy games and they took care of business against the Hornets.

Hornets: As if the Hornets needed anymore injury problems, backup center Moussa Diabate had to be helped off the court with about four minutes to play with a lower-body injury.

Key moment

Onyeka Okongwu had 10 points in the first four minutes to set the tone as the Hawks bolted to a 20-7 lead and never looked back. He finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds.

Key stat

Atlanta made 22 of 45 3-pointers.

Up next

The Hawks host the Warriors on Saturday and the Hornets host the Knicks on Thursday night.

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