Hawks beat Pistons in possible first-round matchup

Auburn Hills, Mich. — As far as closing statements go, the Hawks couldn’t have made a stronger one Wednesday night.

The Hawks polished off the pre-All-Star break portion of their schedule with a rugged 99-95 victory over the Detroit Pistons at the Palace of Auburn Hills, their fourth victory in their past five games.

And they can thank Flip Murray for the energy boost. He had a monster night off the bench, finishing with 23 points, against his former team.

“Flip was a beast out there tonight,” Josh Smith said. “He turned it up and changed the game.”

Joe Johnson led the Hawks with 27 points, including a huge jumper in the final two minutes to stall the Pistons’ last-ditch comeback effort.

He drained two free throws with 8.8 seconds left to seal the victory, the Hawks’ third consecutive away from Philips Arena.

“We just came out with a lot of intensity, and we tried to sustain it and give ourselves a chance down the stretch,” Johnson said after the Hawks snapped a seven-game losing streak to the Pistons here. “This is a statement, but we still have a long way to go. We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves. We want to stay humble, keep working hard and try to have a great second half.”

The Hawks’ 31-21 record is the best the franchise has seen at the All-Star break since a 31-15 mark in 1997. It’s also the fourth-highest winning percentage before the break in franchise history.

Defeating a team the Hawks could very well see in the first round of the playoffs only made it that much sweeter for coach Mike Woodson, who was an assistant with the Pistons’ 2004 NBA title team.

“Any time you win in this place, it’s big,” Woodson said after his team matched their road win total from last season with their 12th. “I was on the other end years ago, and it’s tough to win in the Palace. They have great fans here, and they support their guys. And it’s always a defensive-minded team. But I thought we had a total team effort tonight from all our guys.”

No one was more dangerous than Murray, who scored at will against his former teammates, who didn’t hesitate to trade smack talk with Murray throughout the game.

“There’s no disrespect there at all,” Murray said. “They always do that. Every time I come back here they do that. It’s nothing personal. Same thing we used to do in practice when I was here. All those guys over there are competitive, and I’m competitive as well. So we were just going at it the way you’re supposed to.”

After weeks of uneven play, the Hawks seemed to play the way they became accustomed to earlier this season.

Johnson bounced back from a January slump and heads into his third straight trip to All-Star Weekend refreshed and looking like the player who led the Hawks to a 21-11 record through December.

Al Horford came to life as well, finishing with 15 points and seven rebounds, and played with the bounce that was missing in his first few games back from a 12-game injury absence.

“This was just a huge game for us, and I think we all understood the importance of this game and finishing strong going into the All-Star break,” he said. “For me, each game I feel better. Tonight I finally felt like I was back to myself, and now hopefully we can get a little momentum going into the break and beyond.”

With a nasty five-game Western Conference road trip awaiting them next week, the Hawks will need to pack all the momentum they can fit into their luggage.