Hawks take down Hornets in final home preseason game

They needed an overtime period to do it, but the Atlanta Hawks won their final home game of the preseason against the Charlotte Hornets tonight 117-114.

Paul Millsap proved to be the leading player for the Hawks in this one, with a team-high 21 points on 6-12 shooting and a 9-10 night from the free throw line.

As a team, the Hawks performed extremely well offensively in the first half, shooting 57 percent and using that to take a 58-43 halftime lead. As the second half got under way though, that shooting disappeared for Atlanta, and the Hornets pulled back. Still, the Hawks didn’t trail once in the half despite letting Charlotte claw back and tie the game on several different occassions.

Shooting guard Gary Neal was the top player for the Hornets, dropping 21 points on 7-17 shooting from the field and making two of his four 3-point attempts.

The game was iced for Atlanta in overtime after three big free throws from Thabo Sefolosha, and the Hawks managed to avoid choking.

The game wasn’t the prettiest we’ll see from this squad, especially from behind the arc. Each of the starting players (Millsap, Al Horford, DeMarre Carrol, Kyle Korver and Jeff Teague) went 0-for from the 3-point line. Combined, the players were 0-12 from deep — it should be noted that Horford didn’t take a 3-pointer — and the only reason the team shot 28 percent after the final buzzer was because of Mike Scott.

Off of the bench, Scott went 4-6 from deep and scored 16 points while adding four free throws. He picked up four rebounds and a pair of steals in his 24 minutes on the court to help the Hawks key the victory.

Next for Atlanta, the team will travel to San Antonio to take on Tony Parker, Tim Duncan and the defending champion Spurs in their final preseason game of the season.