Dyson Daniels Jokes About Onyeka Okongwu Costing Him Triple-Double

Dyson Daniels had 9 rebounds at halftime Friday night and did not get another one. He finished with 13 points, 9 rebounds, and 12 assists as the Atlanta Hawks beat the Washington Wizards 139-132 at State Farm Arena.

Daniels went 6-of-9 from the field and had 2 steals. In 34:30, he was plus-17, the best mark on either team.

Daniels had 5 offensive rebounds. Three came in the first quarter. He tipped the other two back in late in the second, at 3:10 for a 56-49 lead and at 1:28 for 61-52.

Onyeka Okongwu got the last one. Trae Young missed from 28 feet with 7.9 seconds left, Okongwu came down with the ball, and Alex Sarr fouled him. His two free throws at 4.5 seconds gave him 22 points to go with 10 rebounds.

Atlanta played without Jalen Johnson, whose 9.0 rebounds a game lead the team. Going to the glass is Daniels’ instinct when the Hawks are small.

“The bench definitely was telling us that,” Daniels said. “The bench was definitely — you might hear about it. Obviously, the win is the most important thing, but I think my natural instincts throughout the game always is to go rebound. Kind of what I do, I help out, especially when we’re small out there on the floor. So rebounding is a big thing that I’ve been trying to do.”

“That last call, I was telling O to box out, so I could go grab one,” Daniels continued. “But he didn’t want to do that.”

Two nights earlier in Washington, Daniels had 16 rebounds, 8 points, and 8 assists in a 120-105 win. On Monday at Indiana, he grabbed 6 of the Hawks’ 17 offensive rebounds.

Johnson has missed three straight games with a sprained left ankle. Atlanta’s starting five Friday was Daniels, Luguentz Dort, Okongwu, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, and Kingston Flemings, the same group that started Wednesday in Washington.

Daniels had 5 assists in the first quarter. The first set up Alexander-Walker’s 25-foot 3 on Atlanta’s opening possession, and the third was an alley-oop to Okongwu at 10:27.

Flemings hit a 26-foot 3 off a Daniels pass at 6:54 of the first, and Atlanta led 18-8. In the third quarter, Daniels found Zuby Ejiofor on a cut for a dunk at 2:16 that made it 101-91.

His last assist went to Dort for a 14-footer at 1:51 of the fourth quarter, which put Atlanta up 131-125.

The Hawks went 31-of-51 in the paint and outscored Washington there 62-50. The offense Hawks coach Quin Snyder built is about moving the ball side to side so everyone gets touches, Daniels said.

“I think interior passes, obviously it’s a high-risk, high-reward kind of pass,” Daniels explained. “Always a lot of hands and stuff in there, and that’s usually where you can get deflections and steals and stuff like that. So for me, I think the bounce pass is something that I’ve really worked on, and just looking people off and being able to find open teammates that way.”

“I think if we can get guys cutting and guys under the rim, get those easy buckets, it makes some of, like, [Nickeil’s] job and stuff a lot easier when they’re out there making threes,” Daniels continued. “It opens up the floor for them. So like I said, it’s kind of high-risk, high-reward, but you gotta play the odds sometimes.”

Alexander-Walker scored 28 and went 4-of-12 from 3-point range. Dort went 5-of-7 from deep on his way to 25 points.

Atlanta had 11 steals and turned Washington’s 16 turnovers into 26 points. Daniels picked off two Young passes, at 9:07 of the second quarter and 9:15 of the third. Dort scored on a fast-break layup after the second one.

Okongwu had 4 steals. Three came on Young passes, including one with 1:06 left and Atlanta ahead 131-127.

Okongwu was moving his feet well out on the floor.

“I haven’t given any pointers, but I did notice that,” Daniels said. “I think he’s been really good at reading the passes, and especially in this game with being up in [the] channel and then getting back to take away those lobs and stuff like that. It was really good moving his feet. He’s moving out there. It looked good.”

“So shout out O for doing that,” Daniels continued. “He made my job a lot easier tonight.”

Young finished with 23 points, 10 assists, and 9 turnovers. He played for Atlanta until the Hawks traded him to Washington in January.

Atlanta is 6-4 and hosts the Brooklyn Nets on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET at State Farm Arena.