Hawks-Nets Preview

By JEFF MEZYDLO
Posted Jan 17 2013 12:36PM

Brooklyn had a rough time already this week competing against Atlanta without facing Josh Smith.

Things could get even tougher for the Nets with the Hawks star in the lineup for Friday night's rematch.

With Smith back from his one-game suspension, the Hawks look to snap a five-game road skid while trying for a seventh consecutive victory over the Nets in the finale of this home-and-home matchup.

Playing without Smith, who was suspended and fined an undisclosed amount for "conduct detrimental to the team" following an incident in practice Tuesday, Atlanta (22-16) posted a 109-95 home win over Brooklyn (23-16) on Wednesday. Jeff Teague had a career-high 28 points with 11 assists while Zaza Pachulia added 13, 11 rebounds and eight assists as the undersized Hawks owned a 29-12 advantage in fast-break points and shot a season-high 57.7 percent.

"We were good," said coach Larry Drew, whose team shot a season-low 29.3 percent Monday at Chicago in a 97-58 loss, Atlanta's sixth in seven games. "With Josh we're better. That's just the bottom line.

"It will be good to get Josh back. (Thursday) when Josh shows up, he will get a big hug from me."

Though Smith averages a team-leading 16.5 points and is second with 8.3 rebounds, Atlanta has increased the tempo while averaging 107.3 and shooting 53.9 percent to beat Brooklyn, Oklahoma City and Indiana in the three games Smith has missed this season. Teague has averaged 19.7 points in those contests - 6.6 above his average.

However, interim Brooklyn coach P.J. Carlesimo knows his team could face an even greater challenge against the Hawks with Smith on the floor.

"They were a very, very good team without Josh," said Carlesimo, who has guided the Nets to a 9-2 record since taking over for the fired Avery Johnson. "You've got to think they're going to be a better team when they add a player of his caliber on Friday."

Smith has scored a combined 20 points in his last two games, but has totaled 56 in his last two against the Nets.

Though Atlanta has averaged 82.2 points in its last five road contests, it's shot 50.0 percent while averaging 102.8 during a six-game winning streak against the Nets. Al Horford had 17 with 13 rebounds while former Nets guard Devin Harris added 18 points, five assists and four steals to help Atlanta snap Brooklyn's season-high seven-game winning streak Wednesday.

"Early you could see that the energy was there," Drew said. "They came out and took the attack to Brooklyn. You have to play like that when you've been struggling."

Brook Lopez scored 22 while Joe Johnson had 15 on 4-of-15 shooting in his first trip to Atlanta since the Hawks traded him to Brooklyn in July. After shooting 39.4 percent from 3-point range over the previous seven contests, the Nets went 4 of 26 from beyond the arc in the second of back-to-back games.

"We're flat-out exhausted," Carlesimo said.

Though their overall winning streak ended, the Nets look for a season-high seventh consecutive victory at the Barclays Center. Johnson has averaged 20.0 points and gone 8 of 15 from 3-point range in the last three games at home.

Nets beat Hawks 94-89 for home-and-home split

By BRIAN MAHONEY
Posted Jan 18 2013 11:18PM

NEW YORK (AP) The Brooklyn Nets paid back the Hawks and now want to get even with the Knicks.

Deron Williams scored 24 points, making four free throws in the final 43.4 seconds, and Brooklyn beat Atlanta 94-89 on Friday night to earn a split of a home-and-home series.

Brook Lopez added 20 points for the Nets, who bounced back from a 109-95 loss in Atlanta on Wednesday that snapped their seven-game winning streak.

The Nets pulled within two games of the first-place Knicks ahead of Monday's matchup at Madison Square Garden, their final meeting of the season. New York has won the last two after Brooklyn took the first game as city rivals.

"We've got to go in there with the mind-frame that we understand it's going to be a hostile environment and some way, somehow we've got to come out of there on top," Nets guard Joe Johnson said. "They beat us the last two times and we owe them."

Johnson, a perennial All-Star in Atlanta before the Hawks dealt him to the Nets last summer, finished with 18 points. Reggie Evans grabbed 20 rebounds as the Nets beat the Hawks for the first time in seven meetings.

"We were happy we were playing them again," Lopez said. "That's the great thing about the NBA. You play so many games, you play right after your last game, so we were up, ready to against them, you know, and we had motivation."

Jeff Teague had 21 points and 10 assists for the Hawks, who played without Horford, their starting center, and lost key reserve Lou Williams to a serious-looking right knee injury. Former Nets guard Devin Harris scored 17 and Josh Smith had 12 points and nine rebounds in his return from a one-game team suspension, but shot just 5 of 15.

The Hawks were only 5 of 22 from the field in the fourth quarter and lost for the seventh time in nine games.

"I thought particularly my guys, they really hung in there, particularly after we lost Lou Williams in the first half. We were already short-handed with no Al Horford. It made it even tougher losing Lou," Hawks coach Larry Drew said. "I thought our guys came out, I thought they played hard. We did some good things, we did some not so good things. But the energy was there. The effort was there."

In a game that was tied after each of the first three quarters, the Nets relied on solid defense to pull ahead in the fourth, then held off a late run.

It was 74-all before the Nets scored the first five of the fourth. Johnson's jumper with 8:06 left was the first basket of the quarter and made it 79-74 before the Hawks could get on the board.

The Nets pushed it to 90-82 after five free throws by Lopez and appeared safe with under 3 minutes left.

But the Hawks ran off seven straight, capped emphatically when Smith grabbed a rebound, drove all the way and threw down a powerful dunk over Lopez to make it 90-89. The Hawks thought they came up with a turnover but replayed showed the ball was off them, and Williams made a pair of free throws with 43 seconds to go.

Lopez blocked Teague's shot, Williams made two more from the line with 11 seconds left, and that was it.

"We had a hard time getting quality shots. When the game slowed down, we just couldn't get very good looks," Atlanta forward Kyle Korver said. "Obviously, we were missing some guys that help us get those shots. They played well. They have a lot of weapons. The Nets have a lot of size, so you have to give them credit."

Williams was only 1 of 10 from the field in the second half, saying he let some frustration with the referees affect his aggressiveness. But he made all seven free throws and will bring a streak of 47 consecutive makes into Monday's Martin Luther King Jr. Day matinee.

"It's a really big game for us," Williams said. "They beat us twice now, twice in a row and it's a huge game. We're only a couple games back of them and so this is big."

Drew said Horford had a sore hamstring and calf. He was in uniform but didn't start for just the second time in Hawks' 39 games, and Drew decided not to use him at all.

Interim coach P.J. Carlesimo said before the game the Nets' transition defense had to be "400 times" better than it was Wednesday, wanting to see how his team came out in the first few minutes. The Hawks then made seven of their first eight shots, including all four 3-pointers, but the Nets stuck right with them and it was 29-all after one.

It was still tied in the second when Williams came up with a steal and was driving for a basket when his leg gave out as he tried to plant to go up for the shot with 7:12 remaining. He limped out of bounds behind the basket and was taken to the back for attention, unable to put any pressure on the leg. The Hawks said he had a sprained right knee and would undergo testing Friday night and Saturday.

Notes: Smith passed Eddie Johnson (9,631 points) for eighth on the team's career scoring list. Smith now has 9,633. ... Gerald Wallace returned to the Nets' lineup after missing two games and coming off the bench in one because of bruised ribs. He had eight points on 1-of-6 shooting. ... Nets official scorer Herb Turetzky worked his 1,200th consecutive game, a streak that began in May 1984. Turetzky is in his 46th season as the Nets' official scorer and has worked 1,887 games overall.

Notebook: Nets 94, Hawks 89

Jake Appleman, For NBA.com
Posted Fri Jan 18, 2013 11:28 PM - Updated Fri Jan 18, 2013 11:28 PM

THE FACTS: Four Deron Williams free throws and a big block from Brook Lopez carried the Nets down the stretch of a 94-89 victory over the Hawks Friday night at Barclays Center. The Nets (24-16) won the back end of a home-and-home set after getting blown out two nights ago in Atlanta. The Nets looked to be on the verge of coughing up an eight-point lead before the late heroics from Williams and Lopez. Williams, Lopez and Joe Johnson, the former Hawks player, combined for 62 points. After struggling in his return to Atlanta, Johnson sank three 3-pointers in the third quarter to break out of a short funk. The Hawks (22-17) got good production from Jeff Teague with 21 points, 10 assists.

QUOTABLE: "To beat a good team you have got to make free throws. We were fortunate to be able to win with the free throws we missed."

-- Nets coach P.J. Carlesimo whose team shot 25-for-38 (65.8 percent) from the stripe

THE STAT: The game was tied after the first, second and third quarters.

TURNING POINT: Williams was able to extend the Nets' lead to 92-89 with two free throws before Lopez made his key rejection.

QUOTABLE II: "We had a hard time getting quality shots when the game slowed down. We could not get very good looks."

-- Hawks forward Kyle Korver

INSIDE THE ARENA: Nets statistician Herb Turetzky worked his 1,200th straight game. The streak began in the 1984 playoffs.

ROOKIE WATCH: Both Mike Scott and John Jenkins saw double-digit minutes for the Hawks.

NOTABLE: Al Horford did not play due to a calf injury. ... Lou Williams sprained his knee during a fast break in the second quarter. He left the through a tunnel in a wheelchair. He will be evaluated in the upcoming days. ... In his first game back from a one-game suspension, Josh Smith didn't register a field goal until a little over one minute remaining in the first half. Smith excited the crowd with an emphatic coast-to-coast tomahawk dunk with 1:02 remaining in regulation. ... Reggie Evans grabbed 20 rebounds for the Nets.

UP NEXT: For the Hawks, Saturday vs. San Antonio, Monday vs. Minnesota, Wednesday @ Charlotte. For the Nets, Monday @ New York, Wednesday @ Minnesota, Friday @ Memphis.

• Hawks: Morrow
• Nets: Shengelia, Stackhouse

• Hawks: Johnson
• Nets: --

• Lead Changes: 18
• Times Tied: 14

• Arena: Barclays Center, Brooklyn, NY
• Officials: #48 Scott Foster, #18 Matt Boland, #11 Derrick Collins
• Attendance: 17732
• Duration: 2:17