Atlanta Hawks annihilate Philadelphia 76ers, 125-99

Jan 31, 2014; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Atlanta Hawks forward Mike Scott (32) goes up for a dunk during the second quarter against the Philadelphia 76ers at the Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports

The Atlanta Hawks traveled into the City of Brotherly Love to take on the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday night, and the results were quite good. The Hawks took advantage of some early turnovers by the Sixers to establish a high-scoring pace, and several players, like Elton Brand and Mike Scott, came off the Hawks bench to provide much needed early points while the Hawks rested their starters.

That turned out to be key since the Hawks had played 5 games in 8 days before the postponement of the Detroit game on Wednesday. Fresher legs and solid bench play put Atlanta up 12 at the half, and they looked like they were on cruise control offensively.

If not for Thaddeus Young of the Sixers, the game would have been a complete blowout in favor the Hawks by the 2nd quarter. Young had a great individual effort for 29 points, but those points were wasted since the rest of his team didn’t bother playing coherent defense all night. The Hawks were literally doing anything they wanted offensively, and the Sixers couldn’t stop turning the ball over. Philly wasn’t able to slow the Hawks down at all, as Atlanta went on to score over 100 points by the end of the 3rd quarter.

If you are a fan of watching the Hawks score points, you missed out if you weren’t watching this game. Seemingly everyone had a great night at the basket, with seven different Hawks scoring in the double digits. However, the player of the game had to be Mike Scott. Mike finished the game with 18 points, 9 rebounds, and 4 assists in just 24 minutes. He added to the scoring onslaught that saw the Hawks shoot over 50% from the field, and 50% from 3-point land. This game was undoubtedly one of the best performances by the Hawks in regulation thus far.

The Hawks look to continue that momentum when they Minnesota at home on Saturday. Come out and watch them take on Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio!