With his backcourt running mate out of action, Washington guard Bradley Beal took over and scored 36 points to lead the visiting Washington Wizards to a 131-117 win over the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday.

The win was the third straight for Washington, while Atlanta lost its fourth straight.

Washington's John Wall was out of the lineup with personal reasons, so Beal carried much of the offense himself. He was 12-for-22 from the field and easily topped his career average against Atlanta of 17.7 points. Beal, who also had six rebounds and nine assists, fell far short of his career high of 51 points set Dec. 5 against Portland.

The Wizards also got 20 points, 11 rebounds and five assists from Otto Porter Jr., who was able to take advantage of the absence of Atlanta forward Taurean Prince, out with an ankle injury. Kelly Oubre Jr. came off the bench to score 19 points and add five rebounds and Thomas Bryant had 16 points and nine rebounds. Tomas Satoransky, making his second start, had 14 points and seven assists.

Atlanta was led by John Collins, who was 12-for-17 from the floor and scored 26 points. Collins also had a game-high 14 rebounds. Kent Bazemore scored 22 points with six assists and rookie Trae Young scored 14 points with five assists. Rookie Kevin Huerter started in place of Prince and scored eight.

Washington took a big lead and used a 14-0 run to gain a 72-49 advantage at halftime. The Hawks got back in it by scoring 45 points in the third quarter -- typically their most troublesome period -- and trailed only 103-94 entering the final quarter.

It was the first of four meetings between the clubs this season. They play again on Dec. 18 in Atlanta.

Washington continues its four-game road trip on Saturday in Cleveland. Atlanta hosts Denver on Saturday.

--Field Level Media