RECAP: Hawks 113, Bobcats 90

FINAL

(7-15) 90 – 113 (14-6)

Key Performers:

D. Harris (ATL): 20 pts, 4 asts, 1 reb
G. Henderson (CHA): 17 pts, 3 rebs, 3 asts
[FULL BOX SCORE]

Wow. What shooting display by the Hawks. The Bobcats’ defense wilted as Atlanta went bombs away, connecting on 14-29 attempted threes. That, coupled with Charlotte’s inability to stop the Hawks in transition, allowed the Hawks to cruise to an easy victory.

Reaction Grades: [assessed 0-10]

Josh Smith: Smith had one of his best shooting nights of the season (8-12 from the field), but that’s probably because he took less jumpers than usual (although he did take 2 three-pointers; he made one of them). Hooray! Overall, though, it was another great night for Smoove. He was active on defense, made a few nice passes, and was able to score a somewhat quiet 18 points as the Hawks coasted through most of the game. 8/10

Al Horford: Horford didn’t have the best game of his life, but he didn’t need to because the rest of the team was on fire. He just kind of sat back and rolled with the flow of the game. He scored 11 points, but only grabbed 3 rebounds. His 3 blocks in the first half, however, were big. 6/10

Kyle Korver: Korver started off the game hot, and it was his initial barrage of threes/jumpers that helped put Charlotte away early. He scored 13 points on 5 of 7 shooting (2-3 from beyond the arc). 7/10

DeShawn Stevenson: It was a great night for DeShawn, who played solid defense and connected on 3-5 3-pointers. That’s what he’s asked to do! 6/10

Jeff Teague: Teague had a relatively quiet night, scoring only 6 points and passing out 4 assists. He was 2 of 5 from the field, but at least he limited himself to only one turnover in 27 minutes.  4/10

Lou Williams: Lou tied his career high for assists in one game, dishing out 9 on the night to go along with his 13 points. He helped Korver shoot the the Bobcats into oblivion in that 2nd quarter, and he was making smart decisions with the ball all night.  9/10

Devin Harris: It wasn’t long ago I thought Devin Harris was completely terrible. He’s really improved since  that rough opening stretch, and tonight he was just fantastic. He scored 20 points, was 7 of 11 from the field, had 4 assists, and was firing away from three. He was the real energizer bunny. Charlotte had no answer for him, but in fairness to Charlotte, they had no answer for anybody. 9/10

Zaza Pachulia: Zaza didn’t score, but he pulled down 7 rebounds in 18 minutes. His activity on the boards was a nice boost. (I really just can’t bring myself to say something bad about anyone after how well the team as a whole played. Lets just give him a 5, even though he probably doesn’t deserve one).  5/10

Ivan Johnson: Harris may have been the energizer bunny of the all-important first half run, but Ivan made sure Charlotte never fought their way back into the game. He was a man amongst boys, racking up 16 points (5-8 shooting) and 8 rebounds en route to one of his best games of the season. 8/10

John Jenkins: He played 4 minutes, and in those 4 minutes he grabbed 1 rebound, had 1 assist, and scored 5 points (1-1 from three). Imagine his Per 36 stats!!! … 4/10

Anthony Morrow, Anthony Tolliver, Mike Scott: Yay for garbage time minutes! There just isn’t enough to score them on when they played a combined total of 12 minutes.  2/10

Larry Drew: After two years of doubting, Larry Drew has finally won me over. He’s done a solid job this season, and tonight was no different, granted the opponent was easy. His offense flows well, he’s great out of timeouts, and this defense looks great. No complaints here. 7/10

The opposition: They were pretty terrible, especially defensively. The Hawks found open man after open man for three, and Charlotte could just not keep up with the Hawks in transition. They have no offensive inside threat, and other than Gerald Henderson, their perimeter game was reduced to an ineffective mess against Atlanta.  2/10

Next: Atlanta vs Golden State, Saturday, December 15th