January 21st, 2010 
Stephen Rhodes 
Posted in 
The Atlanta Hawks are usually a team that gets its lion’s share of points from their starting five, along with perhaps the top sixth man in the league this year, Jamal Crawford.
During the Hawks game Wednesday night against the visiting Sacramento Kings, there was balanced scoring by the starting five; however, it was Crawford and the bench that proved to be key as they recovered from an early sluggish start to help Atlanta dispose of Sacramento 108-97 at Philips Arena.
The Hawks, as previously mentioned, started out slow, falling behind by 11 in the second quarter. After the Kings went up 44-33 on a Jason Thompson layup with 5 1/2 minutes left in the half, Atlanta slowly recovered as Joe Johnson hit a jumper then drove to the basket for another score; Josh Smith then laid one off the glass.
The Hawks’ 21-8 run in the second quarter helped put them ahead 54-52 at the break, then would put together a 10-2 spurt to begin the third quarter, capped by a Smith dunk off a Mike Bibby lob pass. Sacramento would try and rally late, but the Atlanta reserves held them off, icing the victory.
Crawford led five Hawks scorers with 20 points, 2 rebounds and 4 assists while Johnson added 3 rebounds, 7 assists and a steal; Josh Smith chipped in 16 with 9 rebounds, 4 assists, a steal and 2 blocks while Al Horford poured in 15 with 7 rebounds, 3 assists, a steal and 4 blocks.
Tyreke Evans led the Kings with 24 points, 5 assists and 2 steals while Kevin Martin added 23 with 4 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals; Omri Casspi came off the bench to score 16 with 8 rebounds, an assist and 2 steals.
Atlanta (27-14) plays again on Friday when they host the Charlotte Bobcats while Sacramento (15-26) makes the short trip to Orlando to take on the Magic – also on Friday night.
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