Al Horford guides Josh Smith-less Hawks to a 104-95 win over Thunder: NBA Recap
No Josh Smith, no problem.
After being heckled by certain James Harden in their season opener, the Atlanta Hawks took on his former team, the Oklahoma City Thunder, on Sunday night and despite a 28 point effort from new recruit Kevin Martin, they managed
to carve out a 104-95 win.
Martin was sensational for OKC. He shot 8-for-11 from the floor, including 6-for-8 from downtown, but a fourth quarter explosion by the Hawks was a bit too hot to handle for his team.
The Hawks were spearheaded by a 23 point-12 rebound double-double from Al Horford while Lou Williams once again owned the fourth quarter. He scored 14 of his 19 points in the deciding frame, in which the Hawks outscored OKC by
8. Jeff Teague also had 16 point to go with 5 assists and Ivan Johnson ended the night with 10 points in just a shade above 12 minutes.
For Thunder, Durant nearly had a triple-double with 22 points, 12 rebounds and 8 assists. He also made 3 steals and swatted a couple, but was only 7-of-17 from the field and also committed 6 turnovers. Thunder committed 20 turnovers
on the night as compared to only 10 by Hawks and that turned out to be the difference. The problem became worse in the last quarter when OKC lost the balls six times.
"We have to do a better job of taking care of the basketball. 20 turnovers on our home floor is unacceptable. We know there's work to be done and we're going to do it. We gave up almost 30 points in three of the four quarters.
We played good defense for one quarter tonight." Thunder head coach Scott Brooks emphasized after the game.
Thunder also failed to feed Martin down the stretch, and the shooter didn’t get a shot in the last 4:06. Serge Ibaka scored 14 while Russell Westbrook added 14 point and 9 dimes.
Atlanta had the early lead and after Thunder reeled off a 9-zip run midway through the frame, they capped the quarter with a 19-6 burst to take a 30-22 lead. The Hawks led by as many as 10 point early in the second quarter, but
a late 18-5 OKC charge had them down by 47-51 at the break.
Atlanta managed to level the game at 59 nearly five minutes into the period, but Westbrook responded with back-to-back three’s to regain the initiative for OKC. The Hawks hung tough though and managed to draw a single point lead
going into the last frame, 75-74.
The fourth quarter was tight to begin with, but keyed by Lou Williams, the Hawks gradually extended their advantage and foiled all Thunder bids of a comeback – effectively beating them at their own game.
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