NBA: Minus Josh Smith, Hawks snap Nets' win streak

January 17, 2013 11:04am


Playing without suspended forward Josh Smith turned out to be the spark the Atlanta Hawks needed.

With Josh Smith serving out a one-game suspension, the Hawks still managed to build a comfortable lead over the visiting Brooklyn Nets, snapping their opponents' considerable win streak entering the game with a 109-95 victory, Wednesday (Thursday, PHL time) at the Philips Arena.

[Related: Hawks suspend Josh Smith for 'conduct detrimental to the team']


The Nets entered riding a seven-game win streak, while the Hawks had lost six of their last seven, but the home team produced a statement victory, improving their record to 22-16, a win behind the 23-16 Brooklyn team.

Jeff Teague out-dueled his counterpart Deron Williams, finishing with 28 points and 11 assists versus a 12-point, nine-assist outing by the Nets' marquee player.

Brooklyn never led, as the Hawks jumped out to a 13-4 start to the game, before a runner by Teague stretched that to a 16-point lead entering the second half.

An alley-oop dunk by Al Horford off a Teague assist got Atlanta their biggest lead, 73-47, with 7:36 left in the third, though the Nets managed to slice their deficit all the way down to 12, 103-91, with 2:46 remaining in the final quarter.

Two Devin Harris charities padded that back to 14, before the Nets countered with an Andray Blatche put-back dunk off a missed triple by Williams. But after a split at the line by Hawks center Zaza Pachulia, 106-93, the Nets missed three straight attempts, wasting precious time in the process.

With under a minute to go, Pachulia then hauled back in a Harris miss, which led to the dagger triple by Jeff Teague, 109-93, 31 seconds to go.

Al Horford added a double-double of 17 points and 13 rebounds, while Zaza Pachulia stuffed the stats sheet with 13 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists. Lou Williams chimed in with 11 off the bench.

The Nets were led by Brook Lopez's 22 markers and nine rebounds. Joe Johnson, in his return to Atlanta after being traded to Brooklyn in the offseason, scored 15 on 15 attempts from the field.

The Hawks shot a blistering 57.7 percent from the field, while giving up 42.5 percent shooting to their opponent. - AMD, GMA News