Indiana Pacers guard Darren Collison drives to the basket against the New Orleans Hornets on Saturday. (AP-Yonhap News)
ATLANTA (AP) ― Josh Smith came up big when the Atlanta Hawks needed him.
Playing to the crowd and energizing his teammates as leading scorer Joe Johnson watched the game with an injured knee, Smith knew his performance was the reason Atlanta held off hard-charging Oklahoma City.
“I’m an emotional guy,” he said. “I’m the emotional leader of this basketball team and whenever we can make some defensive stops and put them together, that definitely has to get you fired up.”
Smith scored 13 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter, Jeff Teague added 16 points and the Atlanta Hawks snapped the Thunder’s seven-game winning streak with a 97-90 victory on Saturday night.
Kevin Durant finished with 35 points, going 14 of 17 on free throw attempts, and Russell Westbrook had 25 points for league-best Oklahoma City.
Smith, who matched a season-high in scoring and pulled down seven of his 12 rebounds in the fourth, had dunks on consecutive possessions to give the Hawks an 87-79 lead with 4:43 remaining. Then, after forcing Durant to commit a turnover and pounding his first against his own chest with 3:04 left, Smith matched Durant’s 3-pointer to put Atlanta up 92-88 at the 2-minute mark.
Orlando 114, Milwaukee 98
Washington 101, Cleveland 98
Indiana 102, New Orleans 84
Memphis 100, Detroit 83
Dallas 102, Utah 96
Minnesota 122, Portland 110
koreaherald@heraldcorp.com
