Backdoor Cut: Hawks win at home over Nets 1.16.16

By E. Marcel Pourtout, Editor

With six players in double-figures, the Atlanta Hawks snapped their two-game losing streak with a 114-86 home win over the Brooklyn Nets at Philips Arena on Saturday night.

Paul Millsap scored a game-high 21 points for Atlanta (24-17), while Dennis Schroder had 15 points and 10 assists off the bench for a double-double. Other Hawks in double-figures for scoring were Kent Bazemore (15), Jeff Teague (12) Al Horford (10) and Tiago Splitter (10).

Atlanta shot 55.7 percent from the floor and the 28-point winning margin ties its largest victory this season. The Hawks had 34 assists and 44 made field goal attempts and outrebounded Brooklyn 40-36. Atlanta also outscored the Nets in points in the paint 64-30.

“Great effort by our group…I think a lot of guys played well,” Atlanta coach Mike Budenholzer said. “The bench was really good for us. A little different combinations tonight so it was good to see guys in a little bit different situations play well.”

Thaddeus Young scored a team-high 18 points and grabbed seven rebounds for the Nets (11-30) in defeat. Joe Johnson (14) and Brook Lopez (10) also scored in double-figures. Donald Sloan’s 12 assists were a game-high for Brooklyn.

“We did a lot of things to try to stay in the game,” Nets’ coach Tony Brown said. “Atlanta hurt us by getting a lot of attempts at the basket. We didn’t do a good job of defending those plays.”

Brooklyn started out the second half on a 7-0 lead to tied the score at 55-55 at the 10:24 mark of the third quarter. The Hawks responded with a 10-4 run of its own culminating with a Bazemore layup to give them the 65-59 advantage with 7:12 left in the third quarter. Atlanta took an 84-68 lead into the fourth quarter.

The Hawks outscored the Nets 30-18 to secure the victory.

Atlanta held a 55-48 lead at halftime behind a team-high 10 points each from Bazemore and Millsap. The Hawks shot 55 percent from the field in the first half despite making only three out of 12 three-pointer attempts. Young scored a game-high 14 points for the Nets sho shot 43.9 percent in the first half. Sloan dished out 10 first-half assists for Brooklyn.