Al Horford Stars as the Atlanta Hawks take down Milwaukee Bucks
Al Horford scored a team-high 18 points and pulled down 12 rebounds, as the Atlanta Hawks got back to winning ways with a 95-80 win over the Milwaukee Bucks. Atlanta's 20th win of the season also ended a five-game road losing streak for the Hawks.
Horford told reporters after the game, "We play our best when we're sharing the ball. We're just consistent and solid throughout, and that's what we did tonight."
Joe Johnson scored 15 points, while Jamal Crawford and Marvin Williams both contributed 14 points apiece off the bench to give the Hawks their fourth win in the last six matches. Josh Smith
also netted 13 points and grabbed seven rebounds, while Jason Collins pulled down 12 rebounds in the win.
John Salmons did all he could and ended with 18 points for the Bucks in the defeat. Keyon Dooling scored 15 points and nine assist, while Andrew Bogut finished with 14 points and 11 rebounds in the Bucks 17th defeat of the season.
Story of the Game
Atlanta looked in an aggressive mood from the start of the game, and put together some brilliant attacking moves, while holding firm in defence to take an 11-point lead at the end of the first (29-18).
The Bucks fought hard to try to get themselves back into the game in the second quarter. However, the Hawks continued to play offensively and broadened their lead to 17 points, 50-33 at half time.
Milwaukee had a very positive start in the third quarter, and managed to get cut the lead by five points. The Bucks put together a 10-3 run early in the third to get to within eight points of the Hawks at 63-55. However Joe Johnson's
jumper ensured that the Hawks had a comfortable 10-point lead at 77-67, going into the final quarter.
The Hawks were back on track in the final quarter, and thoroughly dominated the home team with a double-digit lead for the majority of quarter en-route to an easy victory over the hosts. Marvin Williams' three-pointer made it 91-78 with less
than two minutes left, but that was as close as Milwaukee’s could get to the Hawks.
Bucks Coach Scott Skiles said, "We weren't aggressive at either end. They handled us pretty easy. It was worse than the score appeared."
Atlanta’s Jason Collins commended his side’s performance by saying, "Once we answered them, that sort of took a little wind out of their sails, we locked in defensively in that fourth quarter and made it tough."
Moment of the Game
With just three minutes to go in the third quarter, a three-pointer by John Salmons pulled the Bucks to within seven points at 69-62. Horford then pushed Atlanta 11 points clear at 73-62, with 17 and 19 feet jumpers. The Bucks never got closer than
eight points for the rest of the period.
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