December 30th, 2008 
Stephen Rhodes 
Posted in 
Well folks, it is official: the Atlanta Hawks are for real; coming into tonight’s game against the Indiana Pacers at Conseco Fieldhouse, they brought with them a considerable amount of confidence and a 5-game winning streak. Joe Johnson and Josh Smith combined for 51 points, leading Atlanta to their 6th straight win as they defeated Indiana 110-104.
After a nip-and-tuck first half that included 12 lead changes and 9 ties, the Hawks took an 81-75 lead on a Josh Smith jumper late in the third quarter; however, the Pacers would respond with back-to-back 3-pointers by Travis Diener to tie things up at 81, but Atlanta would regain the lead 85-83 going into the fourth quarter. The Hawks took a 103-96 after 5 straight points from Johnson with 4 minutes left in the game; the Pacers came back with an 8-2 run to get to within a point.
After the Pacers cut the Hawks lead to one on a 3-point play by Jarrett Jack with 1:36 remaining, Johnson hit a trey to make it 108-104. Indiana’s Danny Granger would miss a layup on the team’s next possession and Johnson would hit a pair of free throws, rounding out the game’s scoring and icing the game for Atlanta. Johnson led all Atlanta scorers with 27 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists and a steal while Smith added 24 with 6 rebounds, 3 assists, an assist and a steal, but committed 5 turnovers; Mike Bibby pitched in, scoring 15 with 5 rebounds, 6 assists and a steal.
Indiana was led by Granger with 25 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 blocked shots while Jack added 22 with 4 assists, a steal and a blocked shot; Jeff Foster had a double-double, scoring 12 with 12 rebounds while Troy Murphy added a double-double of his own, scoring 10 with 14 rebounds. Atlanta (21-10) plays again on Friday when they fly east to New Jersey to take on the Nets while Indiana (10-21) travels east to New York to take on the Knicks – also on Friday.
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