Hunter, Young lead Hawks to 114-96 win over Nets

By DENIS P. GORMAN

NEW YORK (AP) De'Andre Hunter scored 23 points help the Atlanta Hawks to a 114-96 win over the Brooklyn Nets on Friday night.

Trae Young scored 21 points and John Collins had 20 for Atlanta, which had six players score in double figures and improved to 4-1. Atlanta split a back-to-back set with Brooklyn at Barclays Center.

Kevin Durant scored 28 points to lead the Nets, who have lost three of four. Kyrie Irving had 18 points and 11 rebounds.

The Nets came back to beat the Hawks Wednesday night in a 145-141 thriller. The Hawks ensured Brooklyn would not rally this time.

Atlanta led 61-52 at halftime and extended the advantage to 89-73 at the end of the third quarter. The Hawks pushed the lead to 100-80 early in the fourth quarter.

TIP-INS

Nets: Coach Steve Nash is concerned with his team's rebounding early in the season. The Nets are seventh in the league with 37.2 rebounds per game but rank 13th in offensive rebounding at 10 per game. Reserve Jarrett Allen is Brooklyn's top rebounder, entering Friday with an average of 12 per game.

''Gang rebounding has got to be habitual for us,'' Nash said. ''We're going to struggle there until we're really good at gang rebounding in my opinion.''

Hawks: Coach Lloyd Pierce was pleased with his team's offensive efficiency despite Wednesday night's loss.

''I think 92 of 99 shots last game were either in the paint or 3(s), so that's tremendous. If we can continue to keep our turnovers low and if we can continue to play ball movement and body movement, I think we'll stay with high-efficient shots,'' Pierce said.

UP NEXT

Hawks: Host Cleveland on Saturday night.

Nets: Host Washington on Sunday night.

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