Zaza's hot tip burns ex-team By SEKOU SMITH The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published on: 03/20/06 Hawks coach Mike Woodson got his defensive stop, his team snapped a four-game losing streak and Zaza Pachulia can head to his summer home in Orlando with a smile on his face. It was a pretty good Sunday afternoon all the way around for the Hawks, who rallied from a five-point deficit in the final 40 seconds to defeat the Magic 108-107 on Pachulia's tip-in of a Joe Johnson layup with 2.4 seconds to play in overtime at Philips Arena. Woodson promised to sit any of his players not willing to play defense. But he got his wish on the Magic's final possession, which ended with Jameer Nelson's air ball at the buzzer. This day, however, belonged to Pachulia. Picked by the Magic in the second round of the 2003 NBA draft and then dumped by them in the expansion draft a year later, Pachulia has proven himself as a legitimate starter this season by averaging 11.5 points and eight rebounds for the Hawks, who improved to 21-43 with the win. "Everything about the game was great; it was the whole package," said Pachulia, who snagged an NBA season-high 12 offensive rebounds. He had a career-high 18 overall, to go along with his 13 points and three assists. "It feels good. I was just working hard and trying to grab boards. This is what I can do, not only in today's game but the whole season. My job is to be tough and fight for rebounds. That's my game." It's been that way all season. Playing without a regular backup, Pachulia has been the Hawks' "workhorse," as Woodson likes to call him. "He's kind of been my MVP because we've played all year with pretty much one big guy," Woodson said of Pachulia, who also drew a crucial charge on Hedo Turkoglu with 12.8 seconds to play to set up the Hawks' final offensive possession. "He's done a lot of the dirty work, and I'm constantly yelling and screaming at him because I need him. He responded tonight big time." He had plenty of company. Al Harrington had 24 points, seven rebounds and three assists, not to mention the potential game-winning jumper in regulation that rimmed in and out at the buzzer. Johnson scored 40 points, his fourth game of 40 or more this season, and almost single-handedly shot the Hawks back from an early 10-point deficit. It was his clutch, step-back 3-pointer from the left wing with 34 seconds to play in overtime — piggy-backing Josh Smith's monster 3-pointer with 1:06 to play — that set the stage for Pachulia's game winner. Smith finished with 15 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and two blocks, helping offset the Magic's eight-players-in-double-figures assault, led by Nelson's 18, Turkoglu's 16 and 13 points and 15 rebounds from former Southwest Atlanta Christian star Dwight Howard. "I got wide open on the baseline. How did I miss the layup? I couldn't even tell you," said Johnson, who had 11 assists without a turnover while matching Pachulia's 47-plus minutes. "But the truth is Zaza's been working hard down there. I think he got five rebounds on one play. I think he misses shots on purpose just to pad his stats, but that's just between us. But really, he's been working hard man and it's paying off." Pachulia has 21 offensive rebounds in his past two games, setting career highs in rebounds in both. "It was the story of the game," Magic coach Brian Hill said of Pachulia's tip-in. "The guy had 18 rebounds, 12 on the offensive boards. Our biggest concern coming into this game was offensive rebounding. We had to help on Johnson's drive, and we had everybody in the paint. It was a little bit of a mismatch. We had smaller guys in there going against him and couldn't keep him off the glass." 资料来源 http://www.ajc.com/hawks/content/sports/hawks/stories/0320hawks.html --

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