Atlanta Hawks Defeat Nets, 101-87, Move to 5-1

The Atlanta Hawks win their fifth straight game by knocking off the still winless Brooklyn Nets at home Wednesday night, 101-87. Atlanta moves to 5-1 on the year.

The Atlanta Hawks have rattled of five straight wins after dropping their home opener to the Detroit Pistons. Atlanta handles their first round playoff foe from a year ago in the Brooklyn Nets, winning 101-87 at Philips Arena Wednesday night.

As expected, the Atlanta Hawks opted to sit SG Kyle Korver from tonight’s ball game, as HC Mike Budenholzer doesn’t want to have either Korver or SG/SF Thabo Sefolosha playing in back-to-backs as they come back from ankle injuries. Sefolosha did not play against the Miami Heat last night.

Atlanta came out of the gate decently, leading the Nets 23-17 after the first quarter. However the club shot the ball poorly in the second quarter. Brooklyn outplayed Atlanta into halftime, outscoring the Hawks 28-16 in the second. The Hawks had to make adjustments in the second half, after trailing at halftime, 43-41 at home.

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Brooklyn Nets C Brook Lopez continues to prove he is one of the most offensively gifted big men in the NBA. He dominated down low for the Nets, with a game-high 27 points and 11 rebounds. Lopez shot 11-16 from the field and 5-7 from the line. He’s still a great player on a not-so-good team.

What the Atlanta Hawks did to counterbalance Lopez’s stellar game was to attack outmatched PG Shane Larkin and to some extent PG Jarrett Jack defensively. Both PGs Jeff Teague and Dennis Schroder had electric games on both ends of the floor. Teague had 16 points, 6 assists and 3 steals. Schroder had 20 points and 4 assists.

The leading scorer on the Atlanta Hawks tonight was C Al Horford who had 21 points shooting 80% from the field. The Boss also had 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 blocks. Paul Millsap nearly had a double-double tonight. He had 12 points, 9 boards, 3 assists and 5 steals!

C Tiago Splitter and SG/SF Justin Holiday lead the way in +/- with +21 and +17 respectively. Seeing role players with great plus/minus ratings means that they are doing a fantastic job against the other team’s bench. It’s a testament to Bud’s system, the overall depth on the Atlanta Hawks, and the thin bench of the Brooklyn Nets.

It was great to see the Atlanta Hawks finish strong after a sluggish first half. Atlanta wasn’t going to lose at home to a winless team, especially since these two Eastern Conference foes already have some bad blood stemming from last year. Despite shooting so poorly in the second quarter, the Hawks managed to reach respectable shooting percentages for the ball game: 48.7% from the field and 36.4% from three.

Next: Atlanta Hawks: Early Contender Despite Preseason Predictions

Atlanta will have tomorrow off before traveling to the Crescent City to play the New Orleans Pelicans in the Smoothie King Center on Friday Night. Even with their superstar PF Anthony Davis, the Pelicans are still searching for their first win of the new campaign. Hopefully the Atlanta Hawks can have similar results against the Pellies like they did tonight against the Brooklyn Nets.

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