The Hawks earned an impressive road victory over the Wizards Tuesday night – keeping the momentum from Friday’s home win over the Pistons. The Hawks defeated the division-leading and second in the Eastern Conference Wizards 106-102 in a game that was not as close as the final score indicated. Next the Hawks host the division-leading and first in the Eastern Conference Raptors Wednesday.
The Hawks have won six of their past eight games with only dreadful losses to the Cavaliers and Lakers as blemishes.
Here are five observations from Tuesday’s victory:
1. The bench stepped up – in a big way. Mike Scott and Shelvin Mack combined for 30 points, including 23 in the fourth quarter as the Hawks built a 13-point edge. The due combined for the first 16 points of the period. Scott scored 17 points, on 5 of 10 shooting, and pulled down seven rebounds. Mack scored a season-high 13 points, of 5 of 9 shooting, and had five assists.
2. The Hawks needed the performances from bench. Al Horford was in early foul trouble and played just 23 minutes with five fouls and seven points. Paul Millsap was also in trouble and ended up with double-double of 17 points and 11 rebounds despite three fouls. Kyle Korver had a tough shooting night. He finished with just two points – both from the free-throw line, on 0 of 3 shooting.
3. Jeff Teague continues to dominate with the game on the line. The point guard scored a game-high 28 points as he was 12 of 14 from the free-throw line. He scored nine points, seven from the free-throw line, in the fourth quarter as the Hawks broke open a close game late and built a double-digit lead.
4. The Hawks still have inconsistency issues. They survived against the Wizards despite a poor-shooting second quarter. The Hawks scored just 19 points in the period on 5 of 17 shooting (.294). The Hawks had seven of their 15 turnovers in the quarter. Fortunately, the Wizards were not much better. They scored 20 points in the quarter despite a much better shooting percentage of 9 of 21 (.429).
5. The Hawks won despite just 16 assists. The ball-movement offense was held short of its normal 20-plus assist a game. Wizards point guard John Wall had 13 assists of his own. While Teague had just three assists, he out played his counterpart. Mack’s five assists were a team-high.
