Jamal Crawford provided a spark off the
bench, scoring 26 points on 10-of-15 shooting, as the Atlanta Hawks continued
a four-game road trip with a 113-105 win over the Sacramento Kings at Arco
Arena.
Crawford, acquired in an offseason trade with Golden State, made 3-of-5 from
beyond the arc for the Hawks, who have won four of five to start the season.
Joe Johnson also scored 26 points and added eight rebounds in the win.
"You got to push through, you can't have a big win (versus Portland on
Tuesday) then have a letdown game. We have some veterans on this team and
that's what we're trying to harp on, that we can't have any letdown games, and
we came out and took care of business tonight," Crawford said.
Josh Smith provided 14 points, while Mike Bibby and Marvin Williams each had
13 for the victors.
Kevin Martin, coming off a 48-point performance on Monday, scored 29 points
and grabbed 11 rebounds for the Kings, who have lost four of five this season.
Jason Thompson had 22 points -- one off his career-high -- and 12 boards in
the loss.
Rookie Tyreke Evans provided 15 points, while Andres Nocioni and Beno Udrih
both had 14 in defeat.
Atlanta was down by four heading into the fourth, but a Bibby three-pointer
with 9:20 left put the Hawks ahead, 93-92.
The teams began trading baskets for the next four minutes, but a 6-0 burst by
the Hawks with five minutes left proved to be the difference, as a Johnson
turnaround jumper made it a 105-98 game with just over three minutes left.
After some nifty passing a couple possessions later, Crawford drained a wide-
open three-pointer for a 108-101 lead with 2:08 to go. Martin had a chance to
get the team to within three with 42.8 seconds to go, but his free throw
attempt after a layup and foul call was off the mark.
Johnson scored a basket at the other end for Atlanta, sealing the win.
"We couldn't stop them the whole game, pretty much. They executed really well.
They took turns making post-ups or making big shots or Joe Johnson hurt us,"
Kings head coach Paul Westphal said.
Crawford scored nine points in the last three minutes of the first quarter,
and Atlanta held a 26-24 lead heading to the second.
Evans answered with 10 points in the second quarter for Sacramento to bring
the Kings' halftime deficit to just 56-55.
Atlanta took a 76-72 lead with just over four minutes left in the third on a
Smith three-point play, but Sacramento responded with a 9-0 run to take the
lead. Martin scored five, while Thompson added four, including a four-foot
shot that made it 81-76 with 2:49 left.
Crawford scored four points in the last minute for the Hawks to make it 87-83
in favor of Sacramento heading to the fourth.
Game Notes
Sacramento, which went 14-of-25 from three-point range in Monday's win, went
5-of-15 on Wednesday...Atlanta shot 54.1 percent from the field, while the
Kings shot only 41.7 percent...The Hawks won despite committing nine more
turnovers than the Kings, 17-8.
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