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HAWKS 97, WIZARDS 92

Johnson's big 4th quarter puts Hawks in 2nd place

Star guard scores 10 straight when it matters most in win at Washington

By SEKOU SMITH

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 12/22/07

Washington — The Hawks have been pretty good lately.

How good wasn't clear until Friday night, when they put it on cruise control in hostile territory against a Southeast Division rival and still won.

AP

(ENLARGE)

Atlanta Hawks guard Josh Childress, right, drives to the basket against Washington Wizards forward Caron Butler during the first quarter of an NBA basketball game Friday in Washington.

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They barely escaped the Verizon with a 97-92 win over a game Washington Wizards team playing without injured All-Star point guard Gilbert Arenas for the 17th time. The win moved the Hawks past the Wizards and into 2nd place in the Southeast.

Cruising along with a 12-point lead in the first quarter, the Hawks appeared to be on their way to securing their fourth straight win with ease, only to have their momentum interrupted by the Wizards.

By the time they woke back up from that momentary first-half slumber, they were in a full-fledged scrap. They were down by nine in the third quarter before regaining their balance and the lead going into the fourth.

They traded blows with the Wizards in the final three minutes of the game, until Joe Johnson's two free throws with 2.4 seconds to play finished the pesky Wizards off, helping the Hawks win here for the first time since 2003.

Johnson had a monster night, scoring 16 of his game-high 32 points in the fourth quarter.

"Joe is Joe," Hawks coach Mike Woodson said. "He's our leader, he's our All-Star. We depend on him and hold him accountable for making plays down the stretch and other teams know. They try to key in on him and I thought he made great decisions with the basketball."

Johnson added eight assists, matching his backcourt mate Anthony Johnson for the second straight game. It was another all-around effort from the Hawks (14-12).

Josh Smith finished with 16 points, 14 rebounds, four assists and three blocks and made a huge 3-pointer in the final 62 seconds to give the Hawks the lead for good.

Marvin Williams added 22 points, Al Horford 13 points and seven rebounds and Josh Childress four points and 11 huge rebounds off the bench, none bigger than his put back of a Smith miss with 26 seconds to play to keep the Hawks in front.

"I was worried about coming back and messing up our chemistry," said Childress, who missed four straight games prior to Friday with a groin injury. "But we had it going again, man. And it's nice to be on the other side for a change, the winning side."

Win or lose Friday night, the Hawks knew they were going into the Christmas break with a .500 or better record. They don't play again until a Dec. 26 home game against Indiana.

They haven't done that since their last playoff season in 1998-99. Their rebound from a 3-6 start keeps them in the playoff discussion for the first time during Mike Woodson's tenure, but still a ways away from where they feel like they need to be to survive lead-footed showings like the one they gave against the Wizards.

"This is what I was hoping for but being just a game over .500 or at .500 is not anywhere close to where we need to be," Joe Johnson said. "We sort of put ourselves back in the picture after being 3-6 early on. Now we have to get some distance and make sure we stay in that [playoff] mix and fight for our spot."

The rest of the article is at the link above.