> The Hawks used a familiar formula to get back into Tuesday's game against Detroit at Philips Arena.

Al Horford's three-point play with 6:04 left capped a furious rally that saw the Hawks take a brief lead, 64-62, after running their way back into a game they trailed by as many as 15 points early.

They scored 10 fast-break points in the quarter, held a 20-4 edge in points in the paint and outscored the Pistons 28-19 in the quarter to take a 76-74 lead into the fourth quarter.

Pushing the pace, though, is how they got there. The Hawks cranked up the pace of the game and finished the quarter with a 23-14 flurry to take that lead.

> IMPECCABLE TIMING: Josh Smith's catalog of jaw-dropping blocks is as thick as the Atlanta phone book. But his rejection of Arron Afflalo's fast-break layup attempt late in the third quarter Tuesday was one of his finest efforts to date.

Smith was just starting to chase the play from the 3-point line on one end of the floor when Afflalo was already in a full sprint at half court with Tyronn Lue two steps behind them.

Smith caught up to them both and swatted Afflalo's shot with 37.9 seconds to play, keeping the ball in play so Lue could grab the rebound and head the other way.

> EARLY ENERGY: One-time, actually one-game, Hawks forward Rasheed Wallace rolled back into town and energized the building with his play early.

He drained his first six shots, scoring 15 straight points, as the Pistons built an early nine-point lead. He did all of that damage in the first quarter alone; he went scoreless in the second and made the first basket of the second half.

Wallace, who played in one game for the Hawks during the 2003-04 season, after being traded from Portland and before being traded to Detroit, fouled out after scoring a team-high 21.