January 8th, 2011 
Stephen Rhodes 
Posted in 
Perhaps it was less than 24 hours ago when the Indiana Pacers blew a double-digit lead against the San Antonio Spurs. Perhaps it was their lack of focus during their game against the Atlanta Hawks Saturday night.
No matter what the true reason was, Indiana never led for the entire 48 minutes and Atlanta cruised to the easy 108-93 win at Philips Arena.
Things fell apart for Indiana in the third quarter – for good – when coach Jim O’Brien objected to a non-shooting foul called on Tyler Hansbrough and was whistled for a technical. Joe Johnson hit the free throw and Atlanta ended a 17-5 run with 1:51 left in the period to take an 82-62 advantage lead on Josh Smith’s 3-pointer.
The Pacers would never recover.
Smith led the Hawks with 27 points, along with 10 rebounds, 6 assists, a steal and a block while Johnson added 24 (including three 3-pointers) with 5 rebounds, 6 assists and a steal. Jamal Crawford came off the bench to chip in 20 (including 3 treys) with a rebound and 4 assists while Mike Bibby poured in 15 (including four 3-pointers) with a rebound, an assist and 2 steals.
The Pacers were led by Danny Granger with 16 points, along with 4 rebounds, 3 assists and a block while Darren Collison added 13 with 2 rebounds, 4 assists, a steal and a block.
Both teams return to action on Tuesday when Atlanta (25-14) remains at home to host the Milwaukee Bucks while Indiana (14-20) travels to Philadelphia to take on the 76ers.
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