Hawks-Spurs Preview

By NICOLINO DIBENEDETTO
Posted Jan 24 2012 10:10PM

Joe Johnson is a big reason why the Atlanta Hawks are atop the Southeast Division.

He'll likely play a major role if they're going to beat the San Antonio Spurs on the road for the first time in 15 years.

The Hawks will try to keep rolling behind another big effort from Johnson on Wednesday night when they face the Spurs for the only time this season.

Johnson leads the Hawks (13-5) with 19.1 points per game, but that total has jumped to 22.9 during a 6-1 run that has put Atlanta in first place in the division. The five-time All-Star is averaging 25.3 points in those six victories.

The swingman came up big again Monday, scoring half of his season-high 28 points in the fourth quarter in a 97-92 win at Milwaukee to open this five-game trip.

"He has been money," coach Larry Drew said. "He's a guy we rely on a lot particular in those situations. He was really in a rhythm."

The Hawks could use another strong performance from Johnson against the Spurs (11-7).

They've dropped 13 in a row at San Antonio, dating back to a win at the Alamodome on Feb. 15, 1997. Atlanta hasn't been much better in its last 25 overall meetings since, going 4-21 after dropping both matchups last season.

Johnson shouldn't shoulder much blame for those struggles since he's averaging 23.2 points and 4.3 assists in 11 games against San Antonio as a member of the Hawks.

Forward Josh Smith could also provide a difference for the Hawks after scoring 19 points while pulling down 13 rebounds with four assists and three blocks against the Bucks.

Atlanta may get a lift from Kirk Hinrich's potential return from left shoulder surgery. The guard is on the trip with the team, and could make his season debut. He averaged 8.6 points and 3.3 assists in 24 games with the Hawks after being acquired in a five-player trade from Washington last February.

The Spurs hope a brief return home can help them build on their momentum from a rare road win, Monday's 104-102 victory at New Orleans.

They're 9-1 at home compared to 2-6 on the road, but they'll open a three-game trip Friday against Minnesota after hosting the Hawks.

Tim Duncan is looking to build on his season-high 28 points against the Hornets after his running hook with 1.4 seconds left sealed the victory.

"It was a mix of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson - a kind of sky-hook, and we'll take it," guard Tony Parker said of Duncan's 13-foot game-winner.

Duncan is averaging 13.5 points and 7.3 rebounds on the season, and he has 21.4 points per game and 11.7 boards in the last 12 home meetings with Atlanta. However, he had just 12 points and four rebounds in a 108-92 win in the most recent matchup at AT&T Center on Dec. 10, 2010.

Parker is averaging 23.3 points and 11.3 assists over the past four games, as he continues to soften the blow from Manu Ginobili's absence due to a broken left hand.

"He's scoring for us, but he's finding players and involving everybody," coach Gregg Popovich said. "He's doing a great job of keeping us together."

Bonner, Blair pace Spurs' 105-83 blowout of Hawks

By PAUL J. WEBER
Posted Jan 26 2012 12:16AM

SAN ANTONIO (AP) Until Manu Ginobili's broken hand heals, the San Antonio Spurs are trying to produce points any way they can.

This blowout win over the Atlanta Hawks looked downright polished.

Matt Bonner and DeJuan Blair both scored 17 points, Tiago Splitter had 16, and an unlikely cast of role players starred as the Spurs handed the surging Hawks their first lopsided loss of the season, 105-83 on Wednesday night.

It was a convincing win over the Southeast Division leaders after the Spurs had lost two of their previous three - including one to Sacramento at home - and barely squeaked past woeful New Orleans on Monday night.

"The bench has to perform," said Spurs guard Tony Parker, who finished with 15 points. "The bench has to bring something."

The reserves brought plenty against the Hawks.

Atlanta's few losses this season included a triple-overtime heartbreaker to LeBron James and, and a two-point defeat to Derrick Rose and Chicago. But in this 22-point blowout, the Hawks (13-6) got manhandled by the Spurs, who had been underperforming.

Jeff Teague led Atlanta with 20 points. Kirk Hinrich made his season debut, after missing 18 games while recovering from shoulder surgery, and scored seven points in 14 minutes.

"I was not expecting them to go off as well as they did," Hawks coach Larry Drew said of San Antonio's bench, which outscored Atlanta's reserves 51-27.

Yet, a bright spot for the Hawks was the return of Hinrich, who Atlanta has missed despite its solid start. Hinrich started 22 of 24 games for the Hawks last season after coming over in a trade from Washington.

"It felt pretty good tonight. I'm happy," Hinrich said. "The last thing I wanted to happen was to come back and have some sort of setback, or wasn't able to just do the things I needed to do to contribute."

Joe Johnson, who had averaged 23 points in Atlanta's previous seven games, shot 5 of 12 from the floor and finished with 10 points. Josh Smith added 13 points on 6 of 17 shooting.

The loss was a rare embarrassment for the Hawks, who had won six of seven.

Tim Duncan scored six points and grabbed 11 rebounds for the Spurs.

The Spurs shot 51 percent from the floor, marking the first time this season that Atlanta has allowed an opponent to make more than half its shots. The performance by the Spurs' bench satisfied coach Gregg Popovich, who was so irate with his starters at the start of the second half that he called a timeout one minute into the third quarter.

He subbed out everyone but Duncan.

The Spurs have been practically auditioning scorers without Ginobili, who could miss at least another month because of a broken left hand. Parker has been the lone constant on offense, yet even the 29-year-old star entered the game shooting his lowest percentage (46 percent) in a half-decade.

He stumbled early against the Hawks and finished 5 of 13. The reserves picked up the slack.

Bonner, the 3-point gunner stumbling through a career-worst shooting slump, eclipsed double digits for the third time this season and tied a season high with five 3s. Splitter, who scored a career-high 25 points in a weekend loss to Houston, was in double figures for the fifth straight game.

"I had the first couple go down. It always makes things easier," Bonner said.

Even little-used rookie point guard Cory Joseph scored a season-best eight points in 19 minutes. The Spurs started the second quarter with the combination of Joseph, Splitter, Bonner, Gary Neal and Danny Green, who made for a surprising scoring unit that doubled San Antonio's lead to 41-28 in a span of six minutes.

Green finished with 10 points.

The Spurs improved to 10-1 at home, but are 2-6 on the road. They have only three more home games before they spend much of February away because of an annual Rodeo Road Trip.

Notes: The Hawks haven't beaten the Spurs on the road since Duncan entered the NBA in 1997.

Notebook: Spurs 105, Hawks 83

By Tim Price, for NBA.com
Posted Wednesday January 25, 2012 11:50PM

THE FACTS: DeJuan Blair scored 17 points, but three players -- Matt Bonner (17 points), Tiago Splitter (16) and Danny Green (10) -- came off the San Antonio bench and scored in double figures to lead the Spurs to a 105-83 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday at AT&T Center.

The Hawks (13-6) had won six out of their last seven coming into the game. But, after allowing the Spurs to shoot 51 percent from the field including 11-of-23 from the 3-point line (almost 48 percent), the Hawks trailed by double digits the entire fourth quarter. Bonner hit 5-of-7 3-pointers.

Even though the Spurs (12-7) turned the ball over 20 times, they started the halves off on the right foot defensively by limiting Atlanta to 18 points in the first quarter and 17 in the third.

QUOTABLE: "The ball was going in. It wasn't any one individual. I think it was a team effort. Everybody executing, setting good picks, attacking and finding the open man."
-- Bonner

THE STAT: Even though Kirk Hinrich appeared in his first game this season, coming off the bench after recovering from the left shoulder surgery he underwent early in November, his 3-of-4 shooting performance for seven points in 13 minutes was no boost for the Hawks. The Spurs bench outscored Atlanta's 51-27 for the game and was up 41-13 heading into the fourth quarter.

TURNING POINT: The Spurs led by three points with 7 1/2 minutes to play in the third quarter. It still was a single-digit lead with two minutes left before the fourth quarter, yet the Hawks were only able to get off one shot in the final 120 seconds and turned the ball over three times. All of the Spurs six points to close out the quarter came from Blair, who converted a fastbreak 3-point play and scored underneath on a reverse layup off an assist from Tony Parker (15 points, seven assists) for a 76-61 lead to start the fourth quarter. San Antonio cruised the rest of the way, leading by as much as 26 points before the end of the game.

QUOTABLE II: "All the things that we talked about that we needed to do from a defensive standpoint, we didn't get it done. In most cases we do a pretty good job of defending the three. It just seemed time and time again we kept losing people, for whatever reason. Bonner hit, I believe, three threes in that third quarter. That was something we talked about prior to the game, making sure we didn't lose him. But we did time and time again."
-- Hawks coach Larry Drew.

HOT: Splitter, the Spurs' 2008 first-round selection who played his first season in San Antonio last year after starting his career in Europe, was 5-of-6 from the floor along with adding 6-of-7 from the free-throw line. Over the past six games Splitter is 30-of-41 from the floor (73.2 percent).

NOT: After a productive night on Monday when the Hawks won in Milwaukee, Josh Smith went 6-of-17 from the floor against the Spurs. He shot 7-of-14 against Milwaukee, but the two games prior to that he was a combined 7-of-24.

And Joe Johnson, who had averaged 25.3 points in the past six Hawks' victories (including 28 points with half of that coming in the fourth quarter at Milwaukee) managed 10 points against San Antonio.

FANTASY SPOTLIGHT: Tough night to pull good numbers. No double-doubles. Jeff Teague scored 20 points and had five rebounds, but he had zero assists on a night when Atlanta moved the ball poorly (17 assists to San Antonio's 29) and was outrebounded 44-34.

GOOD MOVE: Spurs coach Gregg Popovich was in the midst of his first round of substitutions with the Spurs up 19-16 late in the first quarter. By that time Splitter was in for Tim Duncan (six points, 11 rebounds in 21 1/2 minutes), Green was in for Kawhi Leonard and Cory Joseph took Parker's spot. By the start of the second quarter Bonner subbed for Blair. That group of four Spurs players hit 10 of their next 11 shots and expanded San Antonio's lead to 41-28.

BAD MOVE: Bonner already had made three 3-pointers by early in the third quarter, yet the Hawks were slow to get out and allowed Bonner to keep firing. First, Smith didn't bother to get out on Bonner and he hit a three to make it 60-54. Just a couple more trips down the floor and Bonner sat back while Green went baseline and Marvin Williams sagged in. He was out of position when the pass was whipped back to Bonner past the 3-point line for another triple and a 63-54 lead.

ROOKIE WATCH: Ivan Johnson returned to his former hometown (he played at downtown San Antonio's Fox Tech High School) and scored eight points -- and committed four fouls -- in 21 minutes.

Donald Sloan, another Atlanta rookie with Texas connections (a member of a high school state playoff team at Seagoville after LaMarcus Aldridge already had graduated; and then played at Texas A&M), was put on the inactive list after Hinrich was activated.

Leonard had the defensive assignment most of the night against Johnson and he helped the Spurs limit Johnson to 10 points and three turnovers.

Joseph had his best night with the Spurs: eight points on 4-of-6 shooting with four assists in 18 1/2 minutes.

NOTABLE: The Hawks have not won in San Antonio in 15 years, dating back to February 1997 when the Spurs played in the Alamodome. ... This was the second of a five-game road trip for Atlanta. ... Smith was called for a technical foul by Josh Tiven for arguing a call late in the third quarter. Tiven had called Smith for charging. ... Zaza Pachulia was called for a flagrant foul 1 when he was caught throwing an elbow toward Splitter in the fourth quarter and Atlanta trailing by 23.

UP NEXT: For the Hawks, Friday @ Detroit, Sunday @ New Orleans, Tuesday @ Toronto. For the Spurs, Friday @ Minnesota, Sunday @ Dallas, Monday @ Memphis.

• Hawks: Horford, Sloan
• Spurs: Ford, Ginobili

• Hawks: Smith
• Spurs: --

• Lead Changes: 3
• Times Tied: 2

• Arena: AT&T Center, San Antonio, TX
• Officials: #33 Zach Zarba, #26 Pat Fraher, #58 Josh Tiven
• Attendance: 17888
• Duration: 2:00