Atlanta Hawks rout Charlotte Bobcats 111-81; Josh Smith in stunning display - NBA Recap
Atlanta Hawks faced a major setback with Al Horford’s shoulder injury that has ruled him out of the NBA for at least three months. This terrible news had reached the camp before their 12th outing of the season against Charlotte Bobcats and that
is the reason, just before the start of play, senior player Joe Johnson was spotted murmuring something to other senior campaigners in the team Jeff Teague and Josh Smith.
"We have to take ownership," Johnson said, "at both ends of the court."
His words seemed to have set in because the team immediately obliged with a massive, 111-81, win over the Bobcats.
Josh Smith finished with a game high 30 points on 14 for 22 from the floor and 13 boards. Joe had 23 points, 7 rebounds and 8 assists while Teague pounded 16, pulled down 6 rebounds and dished out 7 assists as well. Zaza Pachulia completed a double-double
by scoring 10 points and grabbing 10 rebounds.
Reserves Ivan Johnson and Willie Green also played the supporting role to perfection and finished with 12 and 11 points respectively.
"We all understand that we have to step our games up in some respect," Johnson said. "It was a great team effort, collectively, around the room. Everybody stepped up and did something to make an impact on the game. We're going to need that from here on out."
Byron Mullens paced the Bobcats with 21 points on 8 for 16 from the floor while Gerald Henderson accumulated 16. No other player managed to produce a decent tally which sums up Charlotte’s performance on the night.
"They just beat us down," Coach Paul Silas said. "They almost got as many offensive rebounds as we got total rebounds. That's difficult to accept."
Bobcats put up a good fight in the first quarter and were very much in the game by the end of first half as well, behind by 10 points 57-47.
It was the third frame that pushed them out of the game completely.
Bobcats failed to penetrate the opponents D and only managed to score 19 points in the quarter. Hawks on the other hand were hot and attacked with full throttle by scoring 28 points to finish the third frame with a mammoth 19 points lead 85-66.
Hawks carried the momentum into the deciding frame and after maintaining the lead throughout, finished the game with a brutal 13-1 run, after scores were 80-98, to complete a 30 points victory that will surely haunt the Bobcats for some time to come.
The Hawks fans meanwhile can rejoice.
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