Johnson Mirrors Richardson’s Career-High as Hawks Escape Home With a Win Wednesday, March 8, 2006 Filed under: Reviews— Chase Kuech @ 2:37 am Atlanta finally picked up their 20th win on the season, but they needed a career-high 42 points from Joe Johnson to do it. Jason Richardson put up 17 in the first quarter on his way to tying a career-high with 42 points on the night, tying Johnson for the game lead. Each man hit four three-pointers on the evening, and nearly scored 20 points at the end of the first quarter. In that first quarter, Golden State opened up an eight point lead, and had it up to as many as 13 in the first half, but a good run at the end of the half kept Atlanta in the game. In the second half, things remained close, but a scoring drought from the Warriors in the final quarter gave the Hawks a victory at home, which seems to really be the only place they can win. Out of their now 20 wins on the season, 13 of them have come at home, and only seven have been on the road. Golden State has had their troubles on the road as well, winning only 9 of their 25 wins on the road. The game tonight was a rematch of opening night, a game that took place in California, a game the Warriors won by 25. Since their hot start, Golden State has cooled off considerably, and the Hawks are performing much better, to the tune of nine wins in their last 17 games. They stay at home, but get another long break, as they have until Saturday to relax when they host the struggling Chicago Bulls. Other notable stats for Hawks players include two double-doubles, one each from Zaza Pachulia and Marvin Williams. Pachulia had 11 points to go with his 10 boards, while Williams had 14 points to go with his 10 boards. Johnson also chipped in nine assists and six rebounds to go with his 42 points, after seeing all 48 minutes on the floor. Speaking of floor time, Donta Smith got a chance to play a few minutes tonight after being recalled from the D-League today, but James Lang, the 6’10” 305 pound center has not seen any time on the floor in any of the three games he has been dressed for. Estaban Batista has been seeing more time lately, but Pachulia actually played nearly 42 minutes tonight to acquire his double-double. Baron Davis did not start for the visitors, and saw only 22 minutes of playing time for the Warriors, notching nine points and six assists. His replacement, veteran journeyman Derek Fisher had 12 points in his 28 minutes of action. Mike Dunleavy and Mikael Pietrus also scored in double-digits, scoring 13 points and 10 points respectively. Josh Childress saw no time for Atlanta, as he sat out with some soreness in his leg, something I will investigate further and report immediately. Tyronn Lue continues to not dress for the games, as he remains on the sideline with an injury. Those two injuries are the main reasons for recalling Smith and Lang. The victory for Atlanta actually skips them above Orlando in the Southeast Division, as the Hawks are only 19 games back of Miami while the Magic are 19.5 games back. The Magic have one more loss than the Hawks, and should probably play again at least by Saturday, so by the time Atlanta plays on Saturday night, they could be up by a full game on Orlando. Atlanta is also within one win of Toronto, who sits at 21-39, as the Hawks look to continue up the power ladder in the Eastern Conference. While the ping pong balls may be disappearing for the Birds, the first and second-year players on this team are gaining valuable experience and even getting a little confidence thanks to finally getting some victories in the Dirty South. Also, make sure you check out the Full Court Press’s second article, one containing a Warriors-Hawks review, some March Madness talk, and even some discussion of this season of 24, after the two-hour event last night, in which a great deal of exciting things happened, and fans lost a favorite character tragically. As one final note, my prayers go out to the Puckett family. We in the Atlanta Hawks family know how it is to lose a teammate and a friend, and we can only imagine what they might be going through at this time. He was a Hall of Famer, and a model American; a player any baseball team would be lucky to have. Best wishes to their family. 資料來源 http://0rz.net/ba1cP --

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