The Hawks no longer have the luxury of leaning on a player such as Jamal Crawford, who regularly came off their bench for two seasons to provide an offensive spark when they sagged.
Crawford, a league Sixth Man Award winner with the Hawks two seasons ago, was back in town Wednesday night with his new team, Portland. Now when the Hawks need a jolt, they try to get it not from one player but from several candidates on the bench.
The formula worked against the Blazers. Hawks reserves kept pace with Portland early, and the starters finished strong to turn back Crawford’s late scoring blitz for a 92-89 victory at Philips Arena.
The Hawks earned their fourth consecutive victory and sixth in a row against Portland by surviving Portland’s fourth-quarter run. Atlanta is 4-0 since All-Star center Al Horford suffered a torn pectoral muscle that required surgery.
"I think everybody is doubting us because Al went out,” Hawks guard Jeff Teague said. “I think it’s [made] us tighter. Guys want to win.”
Hawks guard Joe Johnson scored a game-high 24 points, and Josh Smith added 17. Hawks bench players combined to score 26 points. Crawford scored 22 of Portland’s 34 points from its bench.
Atlanta doesn't have one player on its bench who has the same impact as Crawford. The Hawks instead surrounded their core with a collection of veterans and they've gotten a little something extra from all of them since Horford went down.
"Any combination I put on the floor we seem to have some kind of chemistry," Hawks coach Larry Drew said. "We feel like the players we have brought in complement the players that have been here.”
The formula worked for the Hawks against the Trail Blazers. After the starters got off to a slow start on offense, the reserves came on to keep the Hawks afloat until the starters got on track, and then the Hawks closed the game strong.
After Portland took a 78-77 lead on Crawford’s 3-pointer, the Hawks responded with a jump shot and 3-pointer from Johnson and his steal and alley-oop pass to Teague for a dunk. That gave the Hawks an 84-80 lead with less than two minutes to play, and Johnson’s two free throws with 19.1 seconds left finished off Portland.
Hawks bench players scored 21 of the team’s first 35 points. Five different Hawks reserves scored during that span, with Jannero Pargo totaling eight on 4-of-4 shooting and Tracy McGrady adding five points.
Hawks starters eventually found their groove with Johnson leading the way. He missed his first five field-goal attempts before sinking three consecutive shots and scoring 10 points during the Hawks' 12-4 run in the second quarter.
“That’s all it takes is to see a couple go in the basket,” Johnson said. “We are doing a good job moving the ball but I wanted to be a little more assertive in that second quarter.”
Johnson's scoring helped stake the Hawks to a 51-42 halftime lead. After Portland came back to lead 62-61 with 4:08 left in the third quarter, the Hawks responded with a 14-0 run to close the period and take a 75-62 lead into the fourth quarter.
"We maintained our composure,” Drew said. “Last year in a situation you could read our body language, and [opponents'] runs kind of let the wind out of our sails. As of late, we have been withstanding runs and that’s a great sign to me and tells me we are starting to grow in that area.”
Crawford, playing in his first game against the Hawks since signing with Portland, missed 14 of 22 field-goal attempts. He entered the game shooting 34.2 percent for the season.
“I tried not think about coming back to Atlanta and just tried to focus on getting a win,” Crawford said. “The Hawks are playing great even without Al in the lineup.”
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