Coach Larry Drew gave the Hawks fair warning in their Friday morning shootaround: These aren’t the same doormat Bobcats of last season.
First-year coach Mike Dunlap is building around No. 2 overall draft pick and former Kentucky standout Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and second-year point guard Kemba Walker, and he’s seeing early progress.
The Hawks saw it for themselves Friday night when the Bobcats wouldn’t go easily, coming within four points late in the third quarter and pulling back within single-digits with 1:26 left.
But when Al Horford, Jeff Teague and company put their minds to it, they took control, and that’s how they pulled out a 101-91 win.
After an 8-0 spurt pulled the Bobcats within 97-91 with 1:26 left, Josh Smith found Horford wide open for a dunk, as he scored the final two baskets to hold off Charlotte.
Horford finished with 26 points and 13 rebounds, while Teague paced the Hawks with 12 assists to go with 13 points.
“We didn’t take them lightly,” Horford said. “We knew what they were capable of. We came out, and I felt like we had one of our better games of the season.”
Kyle Korver made three 3-pointers in the third quarter on his way to a solid 16 points. Zaza Pachulia gave the Hawks a late lift off the bench with seven rebounds in 11 minutes at one point. He drove the lane for a layup to end the third quarter and finished with nine points.
“I thought my guys did a really good job in accepting the challenge, playing against a team that’s certainly headed in the right direction,” Drew said.
These aren’t exactly the same Hawks either, with only five of 14 players on the roster back from last season. But these newly reworked Hawks (7-4) won their fourth in a row coming out of their West Coast trip.
Drew had the Hawks’ attention in part because they needed overtime Wednesday and a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Korver to get past the 0-10 Washington Wizards.
By Friday evening, their legs were fresher, and they had caught up on some rest from their trip. So they knew what to do despite the momentum the Bobcats brought from having won five of their past six games.
The Bobcats won six of their first 10 games — after winning only seven total last season. But they got more of the same from the Hawks, who have now won five in a row over Charlotte, including four last season.
A frustrating night on offense for Smith, who went 4-for-12 from the floor with five turnovers, didn’t stop him from making a big impact. He had two blocks, two steals and eight assists, including the one where he found Horford with his high-low pass late in the fourth quarter.
“Kyle Korver is a great shooter, and he comes off screens extremely hard,” said Smith, describing plays that opened things for Horford on the baseline. “I saw (Byron) Mullen’s numbers 22, I tried to throw it around his head, and it was just a good play. He finished the ball.”
Horford might have brought his free-throw slump from his 1-for-10 shooting night Wednesday against the Wizards — his first free-throw attempt hit the back of the rim and bounced out. But who needed free throws when he could just score uninhibited? He matched his career-high with 13 made field goals on 13-for-17 shooting. He also accounted for 14 of the Hawks’ first 22 points to help them build as much as an eight-point lead in the first quarter.
The Hawks didn’t allow Walker a basket until midway through the second quarter, but he used nine points to keep the Bobcats within shouting distance, down 57-51 at halftime.
The Hawks outscored Charlotte 26-18 on points in the paint in the first half and beat the Bobcats 18-9 in fast-break points.
The Bobcats pulled to within three points twice in the second quarter on baskets by Kidd-Gilchrist and Walker only to watch Teague and Horford re-enter the game and lead the Hawks to a 16-5 run to re-establish their lead.
