Hawks Outwork Pacers 107-102
By Chris Guest
After looking disheveled and uninterested for the first two games after the All-Star break, the Atlanta Hawks came out with gusto and energy against the Indiana Pacers and were able to notch their first win against that team by a final margin of 107-102.
The first half was competitive, and the Hawks only took a five-point advantage into the second half.
Atlanta was playing very well, but the Pacers were keeping pace (no pun intended) and finding ways to score despite some solid defense from the Hawks.
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The tables completely turned in the second half, as Atlanta began to pour it on as the Pacers seemed completely inept on both ends of the court. The Hawks bounded out to a 30-15 advantage, including a 12-0 spurt, from which the Pacers could never recover.
Though they did try. In a game the Hawks led by 23 at one point, the final margin of victory was only five for the home team, mostly due to some hot shooting from Victor Oladipo and Bojan Bogdanovic.
The Pacers flipped the script on Atlanta in the 4th quarter, outscoring the Hawks by a mammoth 37-22 margin – but it just wasn’t enough. Despite Bojan Bogdanovic scoring 17 of his 22 points in the frame and Victor Oladipo affecting the game on both ends with 6 points and 2 steals in the 4th, Indiana was never able to dig themselves out of the hole they dug themselves in the 3rd.
This was a terrific and surprising team win for the Hawks in Atlanta, and the team employed a balanced attack along with some stellar defensive play to eke out this victory in the end.
Most notably on defense, the Hawks logged 11 blocks, which is the third-highest total this season for Atlanta, and the first time they’ve notched double digits in that stat in a winning effort.
The Hawks spread around those blocks too, as 7 of the 11 players who received minutes notched at least one block.