The Atlanta Hawks were the only team that the Washington Wizards had beaten this year and Atlanta was looking to avoid dropping a third game to the team with the worst record in the NBA. They did that last night and looked pretty dominant doing so for the most part.

So what are the big takeaways from the Hawks win last night?

Atlanta was pretty solid on offense for the whole game, but in the two losses to Washington this season, the defense has been dreadful. It looked like the Hawks were on their way to another poor night on that end of the floor after giving up 39 points in the first quarter, but then they had by far the best quarter defensively in the second quarter, giving up only 11 points and allowing Washington to shoot 17% from the floor and 9% from three. The Hawks defense is up and down and they need to find consistency, but they showed what they can do in the second and third quarters last nigt.

Hunter had missed the previous ten games, but he picked up where he left off when he last played against Charlotte. Hunter scored 22 points on 7-13 shooting and played well on defense. Having him healthy will be huge for the Hawks going forward.

Daniels has been the best player on the Hawks this season. Last night against Washington, Daniels had 25 points on 10-14 shooting and he had yet another game where he had six steals. With his statline, Daniels joined some elite company:

Daniels has been incredible for the Hawks this season and has been everything they could have hoped for when they traded for him.

Young struggled shooting the ball last night, but it did not really matter. Some of that is the Hawks supporting cast is good around Young and some of it is the Wizards are pretty terrible. Young was 5-18 last night and aside from some three’s, he struggled to get comfortable and find rhythm. It is no cause of concern, but Young has struggled in two of the three games vs the Wizards this year.

The centers played great in the win vs Boston on Tuesday and they followed it up with another good performance last night. Both Clint Capela and Onyeka Okongwu had doubles and played good defense. Larry Nance played 14 minutes and did not score last night, but he has been able to contribute when he has been in this season. This is a deep position for the Hawks and when all of them are playing the way they have been over the past few games, it makes them that much tougher to beat.

Associated Press

Atlanta Hawks (6-7, fifth in the Eastern Conference) vs. Portland Trail Blazers (5-8, 13th in the Western Conference)

Portland, Oregon; Sunday, 6 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Jerami Grant and the Portland Trail Blazers host the Atlanta Hawks in a non-conference matchup.

The Trail Blazers have gone 3-4 at home. Portland is 1-1 in games decided by less than 4 points.

The Hawks are 2-3 on the road. Atlanta is 2-4 in games decided by at least 10 points.

The Trail Blazers average 10.6 made 3-pointers per game this season, 6.1 fewer makes per game than the Hawks give up (16.7). The Hawks average 117.2 points per game, 2.7 more than the 114.5 the Trail Blazers allow.

TOP PERFORMERS: Grant is shooting 38.5% and averaging 17.5 points for the Trail Blazers.

Jalen Johnson is averaging 18.9 points, 10.4 rebounds and 5.5 assists for the Hawks.

LAST 10 GAMES: Trail Blazers: 4-6, averaging 105.7 points, 43.0 rebounds, 20.2 assists, 9.3 steals and 5.5 blocks per game while shooting 43.8% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 114.1 points per game.

Hawks: 4-6, averaging 117.4 points, 43.4 rebounds, 29.7 assists, 10.7 steals and 4.7 blocks per game while shooting 47.2% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 120.7 points.

INJURIES: Trail Blazers: Matisse Thybulle: day to day (knee), Deandre Ayton: day to day (finger), Anfernee Simons: day to day (chest), Robert Williams III: day to day (rest).

Hawks: Bogdan Bogdanovic: day to day (hamstring), Kobe Bufkin: day to day (shoulder), Vit Krejci: out (thigh), Cody Zeller: out (personal).

___

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

ATLANTA – The Atlanta Beltline Initiative says it’s way ahead of its goal to build or preserve more than 5,000 affordable housing units by the year 2030. 

The extreme need for affordable housing in the Atlanta metro area means much more needs to be done. 

“This is Madison Reynoldstown. This particular development has just opened its doors. We expect to move in 30 residents before Thanksgiving. We’re very excited about this development,” said Dennis Richards, vice president of housing and development for Atlanta Beltline. 

He showed FOX 5 one of their newest affordable housing developments, built right next to the Beltline trail in East Atlanta off of Memorial Drive. 

“Back in 2008, during the recession, this was a failed condo project. So, Atlanta Beltline was able to purchase this property. We were able to renovate these units and sell them with first time homebuyer incentives,” Richards said. 

The Beltline has a mandate to create or preserve 5,600 affordable housing units along its trail by the year 2030. 

Richards says they will be at 70% of that goal by the end of this year. 

“This year we had a goal of about 300 units. It’s looking like by the end of this year, we’ll be at about 550 units…and next year, we’ve got another strong pipeline of about 500 units,” Richards said. 

If they keep going at this rate, Richards says they’re predicting they’ll blow that original goal out of the water. 

“I would venture to say north of 7,000, close to 7,500 units, perhaps more,” Richards said. 

However, the city needs every unit it can get. 

According to the Atlanta Beltline, in 2022, Atlanta had a 22,000-unit deficit in its affordable housing supply.

Between 2017 and 2022, the city of Atlanta saw a decrease of 7,000 units of affordable rentals. 

Add to that the fact that the city is expected to continue to grow by leaps and bounds in the coming years. 

“The Atlanta Regional Commission projects two million people will come into the Atlanta metro by 2050. So that is about the equivalent of adding the city of Denver to the Atlanta metro,” Richards said. 

James Marlow, president of the non-profit Southface Institute, says the metro desperately needs more variety in housing as well. 

“Nobody builds starter houses anymore…but we need multifamily, we need more townhouses, we need additional dwelling units, we need duplexes…we need every type of housing innovation,” Marlow said. 

On Friday morning, Marlow held an affordable housing roundtable. 

And with that stark reality in mind, Richards says the Beltline isn’t going to stop and rest on its laurels and will continue with the strategies that have gotten them to this good position. 

“One being our strategic land acquisition strategy, where we’ve acquired around 90 acres of property, where we think we can develop at least 3,000 units across that portfolio,” Richards said. “We also have capital available to developers so that we can put money in those deals to ensure that we get some set aside for affordable housing units.”