Atlanta Hawks continue winning ways with 104-80 home win over Charlotte Hornets

By E. Marcel Pourtout, Editor

The Atlanta Hawks (60-19) continued their record-setting regular season with a 104-80 home win over the Charlotte Hornets (33-46) at Philips Arena on Friday night. The win gave the Hawks 60 wins on the season, which is a franchise record.

Mike Muscala had a game-high 17 points in the win for Atlanta along with six rebounds. “I think he’s finding ways to score around the basket,” Hawks’ head coach Mike Budenholzer said. “He’s putting a lot of pressure on the rim and in our pick-and-roll game. He’s working on the offensive glass.”

Muscala has shot 84 percent from the field over the pas four games, averaging over 12 points and three rebounds during this stretch.

Kyle Korver scored 16 points for the Hawks while Al Horford had 15 points along with a team-high eight rebounds. Dennis Schroder scored 14 points off the bench.

Overall, the Hawks shot 50 percent from the field and made 10 three-pointers.

“A lot of guys played well,” Budenholzer said. “A lot of guys are growing and developing. Good defense is where it starts though.”

The Hornets, playing with several key players such as Al Jefferson and Lance Stephenson, got a team-high 15 points off the bench from Troy Daniels. Kemba Walker scored 11 points and dished out six assists in the loss. Charlotte shot 36.1 percent from the field and made eight three-pointers.

“That’s what these games are going to be for,” Hornets’ head coach Steve Clifford said of younger players receiving more playing time to close out the regular season. “The younger guys will have spacing issues and timing issues. They haven’t played that much and they have to get more organized.”

In a low-scoring first quarter, both teams struggled from the field, shooting less than 35 percent and the score tied at 15-15 heading into the second quarter.

Atlanta trailed Charlotte 48-47 at halftime. Schroder and Korver each had a team-high 11 points in the first half. Overall, the Hawks shot 50 percent from the field, but struggled from the three-point line, only making three out of 11 attempts.

Gerald Henderson, Jason Maxiell and Walker each scored a team-high eight points in the first half for the Hornets who shot 41 percent from the field. Henderson finished the contest with 10 points while Maxiell had 13 off the bench. The Hornets made five out fo 18 three-pointer attempts and outrebounded the Hawks 24-20 in the first half.

The Hawks started the second half  on a 15-5 run to take a 62-53 lead midway through third quarter.

Atlanta outscored Charlotte 23-12 in the third quarter to take a 70-60 lead heading into the fourth.