Atlanta Hawks win eighth straight, defeat Washington Wizards 120-89 (1/11/15)

By E. Marcel Pourtout, Editor

The Atlanta Hawks won their eighth consecutive game with a 120-89 home victory over the Washington Wizards on Sunday at Philips Arena. The 31-point win was the largest margin of victory of the season so far for Atlanta.

Eight Hawks (29-8) players scored in double-figures led by Kyle Korver’s 19. Jeff Teague posted a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds in the victory. Overall, the Hawks shot 47.2 percent from the field and made a season-tying high 16 three-pointers in the victory. Atlanta forced 19 turnovers from the Washington

“The activity and the defense is what we’re continuing to talk about and continuing to work on,” Hawks’ head coach Mike Budenholzer said. “The turnovers and activity fueled our offense. We just want to keep moving forward and not let up on the defensive end of the court.”

The Hawks bench outscored Washington’s 48-27. Pero Antic had 12 points off the bench while Mike Scott (11 points) and Dennis Schroder (10 points) also reached double-figures.

John Wall scored a team-high 15 points for Washington (25-12) and had eight assists in the loss.

“The important thing for us was to win the game,” Al Horford said. “We knew they (Wizards) were going to come in and play hard. We needed to come in strong and we did that.” Horford finished the contest with 15 points and six rebounds.

Leading 55-50 at the start of the second half, the Hawks increased their lead in the third quarter to 87-77, highlighted by an 11-0 run midway through the quarter.

Atlanta outscored Washington 33-12 in the fourth quarter to secure the victroy.

Paced by a 13-2 run and driving to the basket for multiple inside shots, the Hawks jumped out to a 34-22 lead after the first quarter. The Wizards shot 63 percent from the field while the Hawks were at 55 percent.

Washington outscored Atlanta 28-21 in the second quarter, cutting the lead to 55-50 at halftime.

Korver scored a game-high 10 first-half points for the Hawks while Paul Millsap had nine points. Millsap finished the game with 11 points. Teague had seven points and a team-high five assists in the first half. Overall, the Hawks shot 40 percent from the field, making seven out of 20 three-pointers and 10 free throw attempts out of 13.

Nene had a team-high 10 points for Washington while Bradley Beal and John Wall each had nine. The Wizards shot 54 percent in the first half, hitting three out of nine three-pointers. They converted all seven free throw attempts.