Hawks vs Nets

Wayne Ellington with a jumper and then Kent Bazemore with a three and the game was off! Shots connecting from the jump for the Hawks as they held a four-point lead with 9:33 left in the first quarter. Thaddeus Young with an early eight points to keep the Nets right there with the Hawks, and Ellington’s three tied it at 16 with 7 minutes left in the first quarter. With a no-look over-the-shoulder pass to a cutting Thabo Sefolosha from Paul Millsap put the Hawks up four but Shane Larkin answered. Thabo was very active and produced the steal and assist to Kent to lay it in. Hawks were up 23-20 with 2:47 to go in the first quarter. Hawks were up seven with 53.8 seconds left in the first quarter after a no-look pass from Dennis Schroder to Al Horford for the dunk.

Kent drove to the basket to open the second quarter, Hawks up 29-23. Defense stepping it up create two back-to-back turnovers from the Nets and resulted in five points for the Hawks after a Kent corner three from Dennis, 36-25 with 10 left in the second quarter. Dennis drove the baseline for the reverse layup, Hawks went up nine. Joe Johnson’s first three of the night kept the Nets within nine, Paul put the Hawks back up 11, then another Johnson three made it an eight-point game with 1:50 left in the first half. Paul got into foul trouble but had scored 10 points.

Johnson opened up the second half on a mission, scoring five straight and then Thaddeus Young knocked down a jumper and the game was tied at 55 with 10:54 left in the third. Kent’s assist to Jeff to lay it up and then Kyle Korver grabbed a rebound as the Hawks attempted to increase the lead. Ellington lobbed it to Young for the slam. Kent knocked down a three and the Hawks maintained a one-point lead. A defensive three against Brooklyn and a Tiago reverse layup off of the assist from Jeff and then another assist from Jeff to Kent for a layup and the Hawks went up 65-59 with 7:12 to go in the third. Markel Brown cut the Hawks’ lead to seven after they were up 10 but Mike Scott headed to the line to put them back up nine with 2:27 left in the third.

Hawks were off and running in the final period as they went up 91-69 with under 10 minutes to go. Tim Hardaway, Jr. with a nice drive to the bucket and later, an assist to Dennis for a three. Dennis hit two threes, Hawks went up 102-76 with 5:46 left in the game. THJ with an amazing one-handed slam off the drive and the Hawks went up 109-78 with 4:17 left in the game. The Hawks would go on to beat the Nets 114-86.