Al Harrington scored all 17 of his points in the second half and Antoine Walker added 25 as the Hawks snapped a five-game losing streak with a 113-100 victory over the Dallas Mavericks.
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Mavericks-Hawks: 300k |
"They came out (in Dallas) and kicked our butts, but we did the same here," said rookie Josh Childress, who matched his season high with 16 points. "We wanted revenge. They beat us so handily. Everybody had a chip on their shoulder."
The Mavericks closed the first half on a 10-2 run to draw within 48-46. They cut the deficit to 59-57 on a dunk by Josh Howard with just under seven minutes left in the third period.
But Harrington, who had scored just two points to that point, ignited a 16-6 spurt with a slam on the other end and capped the burst with an assist on Kenny Anderson's 3-pointer at the 2:15 mark that made it 75-63.
"First half, I played as bad as I could," said Harrington, who made 8-of-10 shots in the second half. "In the second half, I just tried to be aggressive."
Harrington credited Walker, who scored 17 points in the opening 20 minutes, for helping him bounce back after the break.
"Antoine came in at halftime and said, 'Al, we're going to ride on your shoulders,'" Harrington said. "He allowed me to get a shot at it and he let me make it happen."
Dallas, which had won its previous two games by a combined 51 points, never got closer than eight in the final period, allowing Atlanta to shoot 58 percent (14-of-24) in the quarter, with most of the baskets coming on dunks and layups.
"We went from playing one of our best halves (on Tuesday night) to one of our worst games," said Mavericks coach Don Nelson, whose team scored 75 points in the first half against the New York Knicks. "I called timeouts because I didn't like what I saw and it never got better. I thought I was going to get a good effort, and just didn't get anything."
The Hawks' easy baskets lifted them to a 66-38 advantage in the paint. Atlanta also held a 56-45 edge on the boards and allowed just 12 second-chance points.
"We had to play hard and crash the boards in order to win," said rookie Josh Smith, who had 14 points and nine rebounds. "We wanted to allow them one shot most of the time."
Howard picked up two quick fouls in the first period and Walker took advantage against his former team, scoring 15 points to help the Hawks take a 28-22 advantage.
"I wanted to be aggressive," Walker said. "I think the last couple of games, I haven't been aggressive. I was able to get it going early."
Howard, Dirk Nowitzki and former Hawk Jason Terry scored 23 points apiece for the Mavericks, who committed a season-high 24 turnovers and allowed the Hawks to reach the century mark for just the second time this season.
"We had way too many turnovers," said Terry, who was responsible for six. "To let a team like that score 100 points, it means that you're not playing defense out there."
