Hawks outlast Golden State

By Ken Sugiura

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The challenge this time against Golden State wasn't holding onto a big lead.

It was simply staying in the game.

Eager for a rematch after blowing an 18-point lead in a loss to the Warriors two weeks ago, the Hawks overcame a 10-point third-quarter deficit of their own to win 127-122 on Friday night at Philips Arena.

The Hawks managed to survive the freewheeling Warriors despite getting only 10 points from leading scorer Joe Johnson, who was fighting a cold. Forward Josh Smith and guard Mike Bibby compensated with season-high scoring totals in a game in which the Hawks were seduced into abandoning their typical defensive resolve for Golden State's run-and-gun pace.

"It's proven that defense and rebounding win championships," center Al Horford said. "Obviously, tonight wasn't one of those games, but we did what we needed to do."

The Hawks won their fourth in a row and sixth in the last seven to improve to 40-21. Since coming to Atlanta in 1968, the Hawks have reached 40 wins in fewer games only twice. The Hawks stayed two games behind Southeast Division-leading Orlando, which beat New Jersey Friday.

Before the game, the Hawks talked revenge on account of the previous Golden State game. In that game, up 18 in the third quarter and 13 with less than nine minutes left in the game, the Hawks gave up a 16-0 run to the undermanned Warriors and lost 108-104. Smith even called it "kind of a must-win game."

That fervor wasn't evident at the start. The Hawks allowed the Warriors to turn the game into a shootout. Both teams shot 50 percent or better from the floor and Golden State racked up 31 fast-break points.

"I thought our rotations were just awful and our transition defense didn't help us much, either," coach Mike Woodson said.

After going into the half tied at 63, the Warriors opened up a 79-69 lead on a 3-pointer by rookie Stephen Curry early in the third quarter before the Hawks dialed up their work rate at both ends of the court. The Hawks finally began to slow Curry, relatively speaking. After pouring in 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting in the first half, Curry made 3 of 8 in the second half, finishing with a game-high 31.

Bibby hit a big 3-pointer on a second-chance basket to draw the Hawks to within 83-81 and hit another to give the Hawks an 86-85 lead, their first of the half. He made seven 3-pointers on nine attempts and scored 23 points. He helped the Hawks stay in the game on a night when Smith and Jamal Crawford, who sprained his right thumb early in the game, failed to make a basket in the first half.

"I have no idea," Bibby said of his shooting eye. "It was going in."

After Bibby's 3-pointer put the Hawks ahead, while the Warriors stayed in the game the rest of the way, they never led again. Injury-wracked Golden State, which was without leading scorer Monta Ellis, fell to 17-44.

Smith and Horford had twin 10-of-15 nights, finishing with 29 and 27 points, respectively.

"That's not our style of play, scoring 120-plus in a game," Horford said. "There's going to be games like that, and we were all freelancing. We'll take that win."