The Sports Inquirer

By E. Marcel Pourtout, Editor

The Atlanta Hawks have now won three of their last four contests with a 100-91 home win over the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday night.

All five Atlanta (8-6) starters scored in double-figures led by Jeff Teague, who had game-high 26 points and seven assists. Al Horford had a team-high 10 rebounds along with 10 points in the win. The Hawks shot 50 percent overall from the field along with making 19 out of 22 free throw attempts.

The other double-figure scorers for Atlanta were DeMarre Carroll (19 points), Paul Millsap (13 points), Kyle Korver (11 points) and Dennis Schroder (11 points).

“I’m just happy with the defensive effort,” Hawks’ coach Mike Budenholzer said. “In the first half, it gave us some separation. It put us in a position where we could play the second half with a head.”

Ryan Anderson and Jrue Holiday each had a team-high 20 points for New Orleans (7-7). Holiday’s seven assists were a game-high. Anthony Davis grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds and scored 14 points in the loss. Omer Asik also had 11 rebounds for the Pelicans. New Orleans shot 40.4 percent in the game.

“It’s very challenging to guard their bigs,” Budenholzer said. “All three of them (Davis, Anderson, Asik) have different skills and things they can do. The defensive effort of our bigs was very good. Hopefully we can build on this going forward.”

Carroll also commented on the defensive effort; “That was the main point coming into the game,” he said. “Letting our defense lead to easy offense. Last game (against Toronto), we gave up 126 points. We went and watched film, and got better.”

The Hawks held a 19-15 lead after the first quarter. Atlanta closed out the first half on a 10-2 run to take a 41-28 lead into the locker room.

Teague had a game-high 10 points at halftime. Horford had eight points for the Hawks while Millsap and Carroll each scored six point. Atlanta shot 45 percent from the field through the first two quarters. The Hawks only made one out of eight three-pointers.

Holiday had a team-high eight points for the Pelicans while Asik and Ryan Anderson scored six points each. New Orleans struggled from the field in the first half, making only 30 percent of its shots. The Pelicans only made one out of 10 three-pointer attempts.

“We missed a ton of shots,” New Orleans coach Monty Williams said. “In the first quarter, I thought we got good looks. I don’t think we ran the offense, we were just existing on offense. We started to get it back in the second half but then that last group didn’t stop anybody.”

Atlanta held a 62-51 lead heading into the fourth quarter. Overall, the Pelicans outscored the Hawks 63-59 in the second half.

“In the third quarter, we basically maintained,” Budenholzer said. “In the fourth quarter, sometimes it’s hard when the opponent starts putting their head down and driving and getting to the paint. We were able to execute and score and find a way to get a good win against a good team.”