Joe Johnson scores 34 to help Atlanta Hawks cruise past Washington Wizards – NBA Recap
On Friday night, the Atlanta Hawks were playing their 1st game at home, Philips Arena; after a long road trip and Joe Johnson matched his season high 34 points to help Hawks cruise pass Washington Wizards, 102-88.
"I'm starting to gain the strength back in it," Johnson said. "I'm able to explode off it a little more and make plays. It's definitely feeling a lot better."
Josh Smith netted 23 points and handed out 8 assists while Jeff Teague collected 14 and Zaza Pachulia recorded a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds as Hawks improved to 13-6 at home.
Wizards entered the game under manned as their forward Rashard Lewis was still healing from a sore left knee, while the recent trade of Ronny Turiaf along with JaVale McGee to Denver Nuggets and Nick Young to Los Angeles Clippers
also took a toll.
However Washington coach Randy Wittman ruled that shorthanded roster as an excuse for the loss.
"We've got guys in there that are NBA players we don't need to wait on anybody."
Trevor Booker barely missed his double-double as he collected 18 points and 9 rebounds; John Wall had 14 and Roger Masson chipped in with 12 points. Reserve Andray Blatche tallied 11 and forward Kevin Seraphin recorded 10 points
for Washington.
Wizards opened the game with a 13-5 spurt but Hawks clawed that off with a 16-4 run and claimed a 21-17 advantage deep through the frame. After some back and forth action they managed to cap off the segment with a 30-26 lead.
The game remained closely contested in the 2nd as midway through the frame Hawks were leading the scores with 41-36 margin. Wizards overtook them, 47-41, with an 11-nothing run and ended the first half at 54-50.
In the 3rd stanza Wizards had a complete melt down as they scored only 10 points.
Washington could only add 2 more points 56-50 to their lead before Hawks raced away with a huge 21-8 run to cap off the segment, after grabbing a 71-64 lead.
Washington coach Randy Wittman was baffled with this sudden transition as his team displayed a brilliant show in the 1st half but went cold in the 2nd.
"We were two totally different teams that first and second half,"
Atlanta raced away with an 11-0 run and widened the gap to 91-74 with 5:25 in hand in the final quarter, the away side strived to reduce the gap and Hawks concluded the game at 102-88 by the end of 4th period.
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