The Hawks spotted the Kings two starters – and still won.
Playing without Jeff Teague and Kent Bazemore, who were both out due to injuries, the Hawks continued their dominance of the Kings with a 103-97 victory Wednesday night at Philips Arena. The win was the Hawks’ 15th straight over the Kings and ninth in a row in Atlanta.
More importantly, the Hawks (9-5) snapped a three-game losing streak and earned their second win in the past six games.
The Kings (4-8) had a three-game win streak snapped.
Three key players
Paul Millsap: He had a double-double, his sixth of the season, with 23 points and 16 rebounds. Millsap added three assists, three steals and two blocks. He had a highlight-worthy thunderous put-back dunk in the third quarter.
Dennis Schroder: He rebounded from a poor performance Tuesday with 22 points and six assists.
DeMarcus Cousins: He led the Kings with a game-high 24 points (11 after the first quarter) and 12 rebounds.
Five observations
Get it done late
The Hawks led by as many as 11 points in the third quarter but the Kings made a run and pulled to within two points, 81-79, entering the final period. The Hawks responded with a 12-4 run midway through the final quarter to push their lead back to double-digits, 93-83. The Kings used a late 9-0 run to pull within 99-97 with 31.8 seconds left. However, Millsap hit a floater in the lane with 15.7 seconds left. Thabo Sefolosha iced it with a pair of free throws.
Better ball movement
The Hawks offense has been stagnant at times this season. On Wednesday, there was a return of the crisp ball-movement offense that was the team’s trademark. The Hawks finished with 23 assists on 38 field goals. They spaced the floor well for a number of wide-open 3-pointers, although they made only 9 of 30.
Strong second
The Hawks broke open a back-and-forth game with an 11-0 run to end the second quarter and take a 62-52 lead into the intermission. The Kings were 0 of 4 from the field with four turnovers during the run. The Hawks outscored the Kings 35-22 in the period to grab a double-digit advantage. Millsap had nine points and four rebounds and Schroder had 11 points in the quarter.
Elbows allowed
Cousins clearly threw an elbow at Al Horford underneath the Kings basket following a missed shot. The attempt did not connect and the officials did not make a call or issue a warning. It fired up Horford. On the Kings’ ensuing possession, Horford blocked a Cousins shot at the rim, raced back down court and converted a Shelvin Mack pass into a fast-break dunk with 45 seconds left in the first quarter.
Holiday time
The Hawks made a late change and inserted Justin Holiday into the starting lineup for the first time. The forward responded by scoring the Hawks’ first six points on back-to-back 3-pointers. Holiday needed to see some shots go in. He entered the game 5 of 22 from long range this season. It wasn’t just scoring for Holiday. Later in the first quarter he had a strip steal of Rudy Gay.
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