Hawks-Bobcats Preview

By JEFF BARTL
Posted Apr 07 2012 1:17AM

Earlier this week, the Atlanta Hawks hosted the Charlotte Bobcats having lost three of their previous four games.

That brief stretch of futility was nothing compared to Charlotte's ongoing struggles.

Atlanta seeks its second victory in four days over the league-worst Bobcats, who host the Hawks on Saturday night looking to end a 10-game skid.

Wednesday's 120-93 rout of Charlotte ended Atlanta's brief slump and allowed coach Larry Drew to rest his starters for the entire fourth quarter.

Jeff Teague seemed to relish that time off, saving his energy to tie his career high with 24 points while adding a season-high 11 assists in Friday's 101-96 victory over Detroit.

Josh Smith, who scored a game-high 24 points Wednesday, contributed 20 points and 12 rebounds for the Hawks (33-23), who moved one-half game ahead of idle Orlando for fifth in the Eastern Conference.

Joe Johnson added 16 points.

"Guys have to focus so much on Joe and Josh," Teague said. "It gives me an opportunity to penetrate and things like that, so it was just a good game overall."

Drew said he'd like to see that type of assertiveness from Teague moving forward.

"Once he got aggressive off the dribble, it started opening up," Drew said. "We got our transition game going. He got to the basket. When he's in attack mode like that and he's aggressive like that, we're a different club."

Charlotte, meanwhile, continued its dismal season with a 95-90 loss to Milwaukee on Friday. The Bobcats (7-46) have lost at least 10 straight for the second time this season after dropping 16 in a row from Jan. 16-Feb. 15.

One bright spot has been the recent play of Byron Mullens, who scored a career-high 31 points Friday and matched his career best of 14 rebounds set in Tuesday's loss to Toronto.

Mullens has averaged 19.8 points and 11.0 rebounds while starting the last four contests. Overall this season, he's averaging 14.2 points in 13 starts and 8.1 in 39 games off the bench.

He started Wednesday's loss to Atlanta, but scored only eight points in a little more than 22 minutes. He played a career-high 42 minutes, 34 seconds Friday.

Kemba Walker had 18 points Friday after scoring a team-high 21 on Wednesday. He got the start in place of D.J. Augustin, who likely will be out the next few games with tendinitis in his right knee.

"He's really been struggling with his knee," coach Paul Silas said before the game. "He's been playing and that's a problem. I just want him to stay out until he gets well. Then he can come back. It's too hard for him to keep playing and injuring that thing."

Corey Maggette dressed, but he missed his fourth straight game with right Achilles' tendinitis, and Charlotte will have to deal with another injury after Eduardo Najera suffered a fractured frontal bone from an inadvertent elbow in the second quarter.

There's been no official mention of Najera's status, but Silas hinted the injury will keep him out for quite some time.

"It was bad, real bad," Silas said.

Atlanta has won three straight meetings with Charlotte, which has dropped 26 of 29 road games this season.

Bench leads Hawks over Bobcats 116-96

By STEVE REED
Posted Apr 07 2012 11:47PM

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) Atlanta Hawks coach Larry Drew likes his team's focus as it makes a final push toward the playoffs.

The Hawks, who are a half-game behind Indiana in the race for the third seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs, got 18 points from Joe Johnson on 8-of-10 shooting and 57 points from their bench to beat the Charlotte Bobcats 116-96 on Saturday night.

Although the Hawks stumbled out of the gates in the first quarter Saturday night, they regrouped and took care of business against the NBA-worst Bobcats by scoring a season-high 68 points in the second half.

"We can't have any mental letdowns," Drew said, looking ahead to the final nine regular-season games. "Here we are with nine games to go and we've shown that we can be a pretty good ballclub. But any coach is looking for that consistency heading down the stretch. This is no time to let up and to not finish the regular season on a strong note so we can carry some momentum into the playoffs."

Zaza Pachulia had 12 points and 16 rebounds for the Hawks, while Jannero Pargo had 15 points and nine assists and Ivan Johnson added 17 points off the bench.

The Hawks have overcome their fair share of adversity and appear to be on the right path.

"I'm real happy about it," Drew said, "considering what we've gone through this season and looking at the stretches of the road games and the injuries. We've weathered a major storm. There's some games we felt we should've won that we let slip through the cracks. But still, looking at where we are and looking at what happened from an injury standpoint, I think we're very fortunate to be in the position we're in."

Said Ivan Johnson: "We're already in playoff mode."

The Hawks broke open the game in the third quarter by shooting 17 of 23 from the field while scoring a season-high 38 points. They won their third straight and remained in second place in the Southeast Division, ahead of the struggling Orlando Magic.

"We've faced a lot of adversity and a grueling schedule," said Josh Smith, who had 15 points. "We have persevered with a big injury to a major guy who impacts this basketball team in so many ways in Al Horford. We've fought through that and guys have come in and stepped up and contributed big minutes."

The Hawks scored 56 points in the paint and outrebounded the Bobcats 42-31.

The Bobcats jumped out to a 23-19 lead in the first quarter behind nine early points from Byron Mullens, who carried over the momentum early on from his career-high, 31-point effort Friday night against the Milwaukee Bucks.

But the Hawks began to take over in the second quarter, outscoring the Bobcats 29-13 to take a 12-point lead at halftime behind solid play off the bench from Pargo, Ivan Johnson, Marvin Williams and Willie Green. The reserves played so well that Drew stuck with them for the entire second quarter.

"We know we have to get in and get to work real fast so we can get as many minutes as we can," Ivan Johnson said.

The third quarter again proved to be the undoing for the Bobcats (7-47), who lost their 11th straight.

The Hawks went on a 12-2 run to open the second half to quickly build a 22-point lead. They hit 11 of their first 12 shots from the field in the period, many of those on uncontested layups. The Bobcats fought back to trim the lead to 12 in the fourth quarter, but couldn't close the gap any further.

Rookie Cory Higgins, the son of Charlotte president of basketball operations Rod Higgins, scored a career-high 22 points for the Bobcats.

"You always want to win but it felt great to get some extended minutes and show what I can do," Higgins said. "The next step is trying to get everybody involved at the same point. Once I figure out the right balance, I'll be all right."

Higgins saw extended action because starting point guard D.J. Augustin did not play because of a knee ailment.

The Bobcats need to win three of their remaining 12 games to reach the 10-win plateau.

"Cory played well, executed the offense and did a very good job for us tonight," Bobcats coach Paul Silas said. "We're a very young club and not as experienced as that Atlanta club is, but we still tried to hang in there. I'll give them credit for that."

NOTES: The Bobcats were without guards Augustin and Reggie Williams, as well as forward Eduardo Najera. Najera had surgery Saturday to repair a frontal bone fracture and Silas says he's not expected to play for the remainder of the season. ... Pargo's nine assists tied a career high.

Notebook: Hawks 116, Bobcats 96

Posted Saturday April 7, 2012 11:10PM

By Brian Joura, for NBA.com

THE FACTS: Three nights after delivering a 37-point home win over the Bobcats, the Atlanta Hawks traveled to Charlotte and delivered another shellacking to the cellar-dwelling Cats, with a 116-96 win Saturday night over their Southeast Division foe.

All-Star Joe Johnson had his way with 18 points in just under 22 minutes, as the Bobcats had no one to match up with the 6-7 swing man. Johnson hit on 8-10 from the field, including 2-4 from beyond the arc. Josh Smith shook off a slow start in the first half to finish with 15 points on a variety of dunks and power moves to the basket.

The lone bright spot for the Bobcats was rookie point guard Cory Higgins, who needed just three quarters to establish a season-high in points and he finished with a game-high 22 points. It was the 11th straight loss for Charlotte.

QUOTABLE: "I thought our starters were real flat in the first quarter. But our bench did a great job of providing a spark in the second quarter. (Jennaro) Pargo, Willie Green and Ivan Johnson gave us a spark and did a great job. That's what it's going to take, particularly down the stretch."
-- Hawks head coach Larry Drew on his team's effort.

THE STAT: Atlanta had eight players score in double-digits, as its reserves played almost the entire fourth quarter.

TURNING POINT: Trailing by a point midway through the second quarter, the Hawks went on a 20-7 run to end the half. They converted four 3-point baskets in this stretch, including two by Pargo.

FANTASY WATCH: Pargo finished with 15 points, nine assists and four rebounds and went 7-7 from the line. Zaza Pachulia had 12 points and 16 rebounds.

ROOKIE WATCH: Hawks forward Ivan Johnson came off the bench to contribute 17 points and six rebounds, tying his career high in points thanks to a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

NOTABLE: Marvin Williams caused as many matchup problems as Johnson did as he finished with 14 points on 5-8 shooting, including 2-3 from behind the arc.

QUOTABLE II: "Marvin's very comfortable (in the sixth-man role) and he's very good at it. I had talked to him about it. We did a little bit of it last year and had some success with it. We made the decision to go back to it this year. We've seen Marvin's production go up, particularly coming off the bench. One thing is he gets more shots."
-- Drew on Williams.

UP NEXT: For the Bobcats, Monday vs. Wizards, Tuesday @ Cleveland, Thursday vs. Pistons. For the Hawks, Wednesday @ Boston, Friday @ Orlando, Sunday vs. Raptors.

• Hawks: Horford, Radmanovic
• Bobcats: Najera

• Hawks: --
• Bobcats: --

• Lead Changes: 7
• Times Tied: 2

• Arena: Time Warner Cable Arena, Charlotte, NC
• Officials: #43 Dan Crawford, #6 Tony Brown, #73 Tre Maddox
• Attendance: 14715
• Duration: 2:05