[外電] Hawks surge past Pacers
Hawks surge past Pacers
By SEKOU SMITH
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 01/24/06
Tyronn Lue was feeling it Monday night.
There was that pain in his lower back that kept him out of the Hawks' previous
four games, including two straight losses, and then there was that late game
mojo he's been known to deliver on occasion.
Lue came off the bench to orchestrate the offense in the fourth quarter and
nailed big shot after big shot in the Hawks' 104-94 win over Indiana at Philips
Arena.
He scored eight of his 15 points in the final 12 minutes. Five other Hawks
scored during the quarter. It was a drastic change from fourth quarters in
previous games, when most of the scoring load fell to Hawks co-captains Joe
Johnson and Al Harrington, who finished Monday night's game with 28 and 20
points, respectively.
"Coach tried to kill me out there. I was so tired," joked Lue, who sat out all
practices and games since Jan. 14 until returning to the floor for Saturday
morning's workout. "Sitting out these four games was good for me, though,
because I got a chance to see what we needed out there on the floor.
"I saw we needed leadership and someone to be vocal. I just wanted to keep
encouraging our guys, even when we made mistakes, and make sure we didn't
hang our heads. We stayed upbeat. And we got the win."
Lue also dished out seven assists and grabbed three rebounds while playing 32
minutes, which was hardly the plan going in. But with the Hawks battling back
from an 11-point deficit in the third quarter Hawks coach Mike Woodson decided
to keep Lue running.
"I didn't really come into the game thinking I was going to play him 30
minutes," Woodson said. "But he had it going and he was orchestrating our
offense, so I was content to leave him in. He was a big plus for us in terms of
holding us together. Our defense was solid coming down the stretch run, too."
The Hawks improve to 11-28 on the season, with two of those wins coming against
the Pacers (21-19), a team picked by many as a title contender before the
season.
But they've looked like mere mortals twice now against the Hawks, who faced
them both times without All-Star forward Ron Artest - he was injured during the
Hawks' 87-85 win in Indiana Nov. 25 and on the inactive list Monday night since
asking for a trade six weeks ago.
Monday's outcome, however, had much more to do with what the Hawks did right
than it did with anything the Pacers did or did not do.
The Hawks capitalized on eight Pacers turnovers in the third quarter and used
a 9-2 run in the final two minutes of the quarter to take a lead, 75-71 at the
start of the fourth quarter, they held on to for the final 12 minutes.
"The eight turnovers and what they led to was our undoing in the beginning of
the second half," Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. "They were the aggressors.
We were on our heels.
"Lue got going. Joe Johnson was great for them all night long. We could never
find an answer for him. Their energy level was higher than ours, and that was
probably the biggest factor in the game at both ends [of the floor]."
NEXT GAME
‧ Opponent: Cavaliers
‧ When; where: 7 p.m. Wednesday; Philips Arena
‧ TV; radio: Turner South; 790 AM
原文轉載
http://www.ajc.com/hawks/content/sports/hawks/stories/0124hawks.html
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