Hawks club Kings for 6th win in a row

Five months ago the mere mention of a 50-win season for the Hawks was dismissed by most as a pipe dream.

Well, it’s mid-March and the Hawks are still dreaming.

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Johnny Crawford/jcrawford@ajc.com

Al Horford took a hard fall against the Kings Tuesday night.

BY THE NUMBERS

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They polished off victory No. 40 on Tuesday night, drilling the Sacramento Kings 119-97 before 14,226 at Philips Arena to run their record to 6-0 on their current seven-game homestand.

The Hawks haven’t won this many games in a season since 1997-98, when they won 50.

Even now, with 14 games to play in the regular season, 50 remains a dream. But not nearly as far-fetched as it seemed months ago.

“We are just trying to be as consistent as we can,” Hawks center Al Horford said. “We weren’t on our game defensively, but we’re going to have nights like that. We did what we had to do to win. And the most important thing is to secure the fourth spot [in the Eastern Conference playoff chase], and if 50 wins comes along with that, that would be great.”

The Hawks wrap up their homestand Thursday night against Dallas. Then they’re off to Cleveland for a Saturday afternoon game before returning home for four games on their home floor, where they are 26-7 this season.

“It’s fun when everybody can score and contribute to a win,” Josh Smith said. Smith was smiling all night as he and Horford pounded the Kings inside from start to finish.

Horford led the Hawks with 23 points, 12 rebounds and six assists. He shot 9-for-13 from the floor and even survived a late-game body-block from Kings center Spencer Hawes with 10:47 to play in the game.

“I know I’m going to feel it in the morning,” a smiling Horford said of the bruise he’s sure to have on his tailbone.

Smith added 21 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and two blocks for the Hawks, who saw six players post double-figure scoring nights. And it took something from a little bit of everybody to help the Hawks turn the game around.

The Kings (14-53) had their way with the Hawks early, leading by 10 points in the first quarter while Hawks’ captain and All-Star Joe Johnson was struggling through an 0-for-8 shooting performance.

Things shifted dramatically in the second, though. The Hawks went inside to Smith and Horford and gradually pulled away.

“We picked it up in the third and fourth quarter,” Hawks coach Mike Woodson said. “The way we started the game, I didn’t think we would ever get to that point. We had no defensive presence in the first half. You can’t start the game the way we did, thinking we are going to outscore teams, without having some sort of defensive presence.”

It wasn’t until fourth quarter, when Johnson got it going on offense and the Kings appeared to run out of gas, that the Hawks created the breathing room they needed to put things on cruise control.

Johnson’s streak of 30-point games ended at four. He finished with 20 — but on 8-for-21 shooting.

This was one of those nights when a big game from Johnson wasn’t even necessary. It’s like that when Horford and Smith go to work inside, the Hawks outscored the Kings 64-30 in the paint. Mike Bibby took care of things from deep against his former team, making three of six shots from beyond the 3-point line and finishing with 18 points. And Flip Murray and Mo Evans (12 points each) filled in the holes.

“It feels good to know that I don’t have to put up 30 points for us to win,” Johnson said. “And my teammates stepped up tonight. It makes it more exciting when guys like Josh Smith are running up and down the court and Al Horford is blocking shots, not only for us but for our crowd.”