ATLANTA -
Al Horford had 20 points and 10 rebounds, and every Atlanta starter
scored in double figures as the Hawks routed the Chicago Bulls 92-75 on
Saturday night to snap a 2-game losing streak.
Lou Williams added 16 points in his first start,
and the Atlanta native led the way as the Hawks outscored the Bulls
61-33 in the second and third quarters combined. Both teams played on
Friday, but the Bulls were the only one that looked tired a night later.
Luol Deng paced Chicago with 11 points, but the
Bulls (15-11) couldn't build on its 110-106 victory over the Knicks in
New York on Friday. The Hawks (16-9), however, bounced back from a poor
fourth-quarter performance in a 99-80 loss at Philadelphia.
Atlanta starters outscored Chicago's starters 72-39 in Hawks coach Larry Drew's 100th victory (100-73).
Williams started at shooting guard, but began the
second quarter playing point guard in place of starter Jeff Teague.
Williams had 11 points in the period as the Hawks outscored the Bulls
25-6 over the final 6:58.
Williams added two rebounds and two assists in the
quarter, and Horford scored 10 points as Atlanta shot 15 for 23 (65.2%)
to take a 53-37 lead at halftime.
After Chicago went ahead 31-28 on Joakim Noah's
dunk with 7:21 left in the second quarter, the Bulls missed 8 of 11
shots the rest of the quarter and committed four turnovers.
The third quarter was much of the same as Atlanta
built a 72-47 lead. The most interesting moment came when Bulls rookie
guard Marquis Teague entered the game with 4:13 remaining to match up
against his brother Jeff for the first time as a professional.
Marquis made an acrobatic layup in heavy traffic to
beat the shot clock, but had no substantial impact on the game as the
Hawks stretched their lead to 78-54 after three quarters.
The younger Teague finished with eight points and
three assists as Bulls coach Tom Thibodeux sat his starters in the final
period.
Notes: Hawks guard Devin Harris missed his third
straight game because of a sore left foot. ... Atlanta rapper T.I.
(Clifford Harris Jr.) performed at halftime. ... Former heavyweight
boxing champion Evander Holyfield and singer-songwriter Ne-Yo (Shaffer
Chimere Smith) were in the crowd.
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