The last time the Hawks went to Indiana, they were without the services of
Josh Smith and lost Al Horford early on en route to getting pasted 113-96 back
on Nov. 18. This time around both Smoove and Horford were available, and both
made a big difference in getting the result the team wanted as the Hawks beat
the Pacers 110-104 on Tuesday night, moving their record to 21-10 and running
their winning streak to six games for the second time this season.
Smith was a revelation in the second half, scoring 13 of his 24 points in the
third quarter and setting up Joe Johnson for the biggest basket of the night
late in the fourth. After Indiana cut the Hawks lead to 105-104 inside the final
minute, Smoove worked his way down into the post before firing a pass crosscourt
to JJ, who buried a three with just 32 seconds remaining to finish off a
determined Pacers squad.
Horford was big as well, earning his third straight double-double by halftime
and finished the Pacers with a block on Jarrett Jack (who single-handedly kept
the Pacers in the game in the fourth) in the game's final seconds.
Indiana had its chances, but Atlanta deserves a ton of credit for keeping
them at an arm's length for most of the night. The Hawks never were able to
build their lead to much more than six or seven points, but they also never let
the Pacers get the home crowd too much into it. And after getting outrebounded
in the loss in November, the Hawks turned the tables tonight by winning the
battle on the glass 48-41.
Much like in the win over Denver Sunday night, every Hawk who played tonight
made a contribution. Mo Evans continued to rediscover his shooting stroke,
hitting two threes when the team couldn't buy a bucket from outside (his two
were the only ones the team made in their first 16 attempts), and Zaza Pachulia
had a great impact off the bench early on, getting buckets inside and hustling
for rebounds before foul trouble limited his minutes in the second half.
In the end though the team got what it needed from its superstar, as Joe
Johnson scored 12 of his 27 points in the final stanza including the three that
broke the Pacers spirit.
The win gave the Hawks a measure of revenge as they began a stretch of three
straight against teams that beat them earlier this season. Next up on the hit
list are the Nets and Devin Harris, who torched Atlanta for 63 points in two
games back on Nov. 14-15. With the way the Hawks are playing right now, you have
to like their chances.
