HAWKS 109, NUGGETS 91: Victory No. 20 reached earliest since 1987-88

You’ll have to forgive Al Horford for not being as overwhelmed by the Hawks’ hot start as some of his teammates.

Horford wasn’t around for the leaner times, when reaching 20 wins was done in March or April, if at all.

So when Horford talked openly about the Hawks having plenty of room to improve after a 109-91 blowout of Denver at Philips Arena on Monday that wrapped up their eight-game homestand with a 7-1 record, he was speaking from a perspective removed from the 13-, 26- and 30-win seasons that preceded his time with the Hawks.

“I still don’t feel like we’re playing our best basketball,” the second-year center said after the Hawks won their fifth straight game. “We need to continue to defend and rebound and hit our shots on the offensive end.”

Spoken like a man whose first full season ended with a playoff berth.

But Monday’s win was the surest sign that these Hawks have moved on from their tumultuous times of recent seasons.

The 20-10 record prior to the start of the New Year marks the first time the Hawks have achieved that status in 21 years, since the 1987-88 season.

Horford, like fellow starters Josh Smith and Marvin Williams, was barely a year old then.

Hawks captain and All-Star Joe Johnson wasn’t much older. But after winning just 26 games his first year with the Hawks, he has a far different outlook on where they go from here.

“Like I tell everybody, we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves,” said Johnson, who led six Hawks in double figures with 25 points, seven assists and five rebounds. “But I’d be lying if I said I saw this coming. I didn’t think we’d be down or anything or fighting uphill the way we have the past couple of years because of the additions we made and the fact that we have Mike [Bibby] from the start of the season.”

Bibby helped Johnson roast the Northwest Division-leading Nuggets, by draining five of his six shots from beyond the 3-point line and finishing with 20 points and nine assists.

“We were trying to go 8-0 [on the homestand] but we didn’t get it,” Bibby said. “Now we have to try to get it on the road.”

The Hawks will get that chance tonight in Indianapolis, where they face a 10-20 Pacers team that blasted them 113-96 on Nov. 18 at Conseco Fieldhouse.

Play the Pacers the way they played the Nuggets Monday, though, and they should have every opportunity to avenge that defeat.

Not only did they outplay a Nuggets team with All-Stars Chauncey Billups (11 points) and Carmelo Anthony (16 points), they beat them at their own game. And they did it convincingly, using a 16-6 fourth quarter run to blow open a close game, leading by as many as 21 before Hawks coach Mike Woodson emptied his bench for the final two minutes.

“The Hawks are good,” Billups said. “They are so athletic, and they play hard, especially in this building. They rebound the basketball very well, to help get extra opportunities, and I think that was our demise tonight.”

Horford led the way with 10 rebounds with his 16 points. Zaza Pachulia had eight points and eight rebounds, Josh Smith had 10 points, eight rebounds, six assists and two blocks, and Marvin Williams added 12 points, five rebounds and stifling defense on Anthony, who got so frustrated late that he drew a technical foul with 3:50 to play for yelling at an official.

“Marvin was fantastic,” Woodson said. “He did a good job, but it takes a team effort.”

The kind, Williams insisted, that leads to a 20-10 record.

“I remember 10-20,” he said and then smiled. “Just from a morale standpoint, this is a much better way to go. Now we have to keep this going. We’re not done yet.”

NEXT FOR HAWKS

> Who: at Pacers

> When: 7 p.m. today

> TV; radio: SPSO; 790 AM