NBA Report: Phoenix Suns defeat the short-handed Atlanta Hawks, 105-97
The Hawks fans got some surprising news when they came to know that Atlanta Hawks would be playing the game without guards Mike Bibby and Jordan Crawford and swingman Maurice Evans. Atlanta traded them for Washington guard Kirk Hinrich and forward/center
Hilton Armstrong just before the game.
The Phoenix Suns took an advantage of the situation as they defeated the short-handed Hawks, 105-97, on Wednesday night at US Airways Center.
Channing Frye continued his strong play off the bench with 20 points and four rebounds for the Suns, who have won five of their last seven games of the season 2010-11.
Jared Dudley went 4 for 5 from 3-point range and finished with 17 points while Steve Nash scored all 13 of his points in the second half and pulled down 10 assists in the home victory.
Marcin Gortat also had 13 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for Phoenix, who won the 28th game of the season.
Guard-forward Mickael Pietrus posted 11 points Hakim Warrick scored 10 points for the victors.
Josh Smith did all he could as he scored game-high 26 points for the Hawks, who have lost the 23rd game of the current season.
Jamal Crawford had 19 points while Al Horford contributed 17 points for Atlanta, who lost the third straight game of the season.
Joe Johnson added 12 points and six rebounds while the guard Jeff Teague had 10 points for the Hawks, who have 14th game of the season on the road.
First Quarter Recap
The buzzers sounded, Phoenix center Robin Lopez grabbed the ball and went ahead for a lay-up shot to score the first basket of the contest. Carter hit two free throws to make it 4-0 for the Suns. Horford came off the bench with a jumper to score
first basket for Atlanta. Teague’s 3-pointer and a free throw by Josh Smith tied the game at 6-6. Smith came with a tiebreaker free throw to give the Hawks a single-point lead. From here, both teams went ahead with a slight difference of one or two points.
However, the Suns managed to take a 33-31 lead into the second.
Second Quarter Recap
With a bull-eye on the yellowish ball, Collins wowed the crowd with his acrobatic jump shot to tie the game at 33 in the opening minute of the second quarter. Pietrus had a breath-taking 3-pointer, which turned the contest into a nip and tuck
battle the rest of the way.
After struggling mightily on the offensive end in the first quarter, the Suns caught fire in the last six minutes of the second. Dudley's 3-pointers stretched Phoenix lead to 61-47, heading into the locker room.
Third Quarter Recap
Trailing by 14-point at halftime, the Hawks got it defensively in the third quarter as they got some nice lifts from Teague and Horford. Dribbling into the lane with the shot clock winding down, Josh Smith was looking to pass to the corner, but
Horford yelled for him to shoot. Smith did, knocking down an off-balance, 12-foot jumper with a hand in his face. Atlanta hit just enough shots down the stretch to keep rolling to show up only nine (80-71) down when the buzzer sounded.
Fourth Quarter Recap
The Hawks continued to play defensively in the fourth quarter but their effort was not enough to recover them from the 9-point deficit at the end of three quarters. The Suns continued to up their lead, getting some tenacious 3-pointers from Dudley
and Warrick.
Frye regained his sizzling shooting touch as he scored six of his 20 points in the final four minutes to push Phoenix ahead for good. The game remained close, until the Suns went on an 8-0 run to take a 100-92 lead with two minutes remaining.
Nash got behind the Hawks' defence for a dunk to secure the victory with 09.9 ticks left on the clock.
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