ATLANTA (AP) John Collins had 33 points and 13 rebounds, rookie Cam Reddish scored 17 of his career-high 26 points in the third quarter, and the Atlanta Hawks handed the Brooklyn Nets their third straight loss with a 141-118 victory Friday night.
Trae Young, ranking second in the NBA in scoring and assists, finished with 22 points and assisted on 14 baskets to help Atlanta, the league’s second-worst team, snap a two-game skid. The Hawks hit 19 3-pointers and finished 48.7% on treys despite beginning the game as the league’s worst team beyond the arc.
The Nets gave up a season high in points. They pulled within six on Caris LeVert’s layup early in the fourth, but got no closer the rest of the way after Jeff Teague and Kevin Huerter answered with baskets that pushed the lead back to double digits.
Spencer Dinwiddie scored 24 points to lead Brooklyn, which began the game seventh in the Eastern Conference before dropping six games under .500. It had won eight straight over the Hawks and five consecutively in Atlanta.
The game got away from the Nets in the third. Coach Kenny Atkinson called timeout after Atlanta hit its 10th trey for a nine-point lead and immediately got a technical foul for arguing that Dinwiddie had been fouled on the previous possession.
Dinwiddie and Harris missed shots in the next possessions, and the Hawks soon led by 14 on Reddish’s 3.
TIP-INS
Nets: The previous season high allowed was 138 points in a loss at Phoenix. … Brooklyn got off to a hot start, ending the first with a 36-29 lead to tie a team season high in points in the opening period. … LeVert, coming off a 34-point performance at Washington, had 18. He had an offensive rebound and putback to end the first, but was mostly quiet the rest of the way.
Hawks: The young, rebuilding team has won 10 of their last 21 games. … Young scored 39 and 47 in two games of the season series, but his game was mostly about passing this time. One of his better moments was a no-look dish high in the lane to a streaking Jeff Teague for a fast-break layup that made it 88-78 in the third. … Collins scored 20 in a half for the seventh time in his three-year career. … Atlanta finished one 3 shy of tying a season high.
SINKING
The Nets were coming off two tough setbacks in the closing minutes, blowing a 19-point lead to lose at home to Orlando and rallying briefly after being down 18 at Washington but losing for the 12th time this season when taking a lead into the fourth.
They couldn’t stop Atlanta’s shooters in the third. Reddish, a 30% 3-point shooter this season, was 6 for 9 in the game after hitting on consecutive possessions to make it 97-86 and followed with an 18-footer to make it a nine-point lead. Huerter and Collins followed with two straight 3s for a 14-point advantage.
COMEBACK KID
Reddish, the 10th overall draft pick, overcame a concussion earlier this month and has scored in double figures in seven straight games and 13 of his last 14.
UP NEXT
Nets: at Miami on Saturday.
Hawks: host Portland on Saturday.
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