You can say Paul Millsap makes a difference.
The power forward scored a game-high 26 points as the Hawks avenged an ugly home loss to the Pistons with a 105-98 victory Friday night at Philips Arena. Millsap missed the Hawks’ 36-point loss to the Pistons earlier in the month. He added six rebounds and five assists.
The Hawks (17-16) also got a season-high 22 points from Kyle Korver. Dennis Schroder added 17 points and seven assists and Dwight Howard had 10 points and 15 rebounds for his 21st double-double. Kent Bazemore added 10 points.
“Paul always makes a difference,” Korver said. “He is our all-star. He’s our best player. He impacts the game on both ends of the floor. He’s so good as being aggressive in pick-and-roll coverages. That’s really his strength because he can move so well and he’s so good with his hands swiping at the ball. On that end, he made us a lot better. Offensively, obviously, we run a lot of our offense through him. We need him. He’s a four-man but he doesn’t just post up, he doesn’t just pop. He is a guy who we get the ball to and he makes plays for us. That’s why he is unique. That’s why he’s an all-star.”
The Hawks won their second straight game, the first time since Dec. 7-9 and the second time since Nov. 15-16.
The Pistons (15-20) lost their second straight and seventh in eight games. Joe Leuer had a career-high 22 points and Andre Drummond had 15 points and 15 rebounds.
The Hawks took a 51-41 lead into intermission after ending the second quarter on an 11-4 run. Korver paced the effort with 11 second-quarter points.
Howard had five points and nine rebounds in the first half, far better than the two points and five rebounds he had in the entire game in the first meeting between the teams earlier this month.
The Hawks led by 17 points after a 7-0 run to start the third quarter.
The Pistons got as close as four points, 92-88, with 4:13 left in the fourth quarter before Howard scored five straight points to put the game away.
The Hawks were reminded all day of the lopsided loss to the Pistons on Dec. 2.
“The game was on the TV in the locker room all day, every time you walked in,” Bazemore said. “That score was so lopsided. It was hard to watch.”
The Hawks forced the Pistons into 18 turnovers after they entered the game second in the NBA in fewest per game.
