Hot Hawks crush Kings, pick up 50th win of season

Atlanta Hawks guard Jeff Teague drives past Sacramento Kings guard Ray McCallum in the third quarter at Philips Arena on Monday.

Agencies/Los Angeles

The Atlanta Hawks turned 50 and showed no signs of slowing down. Kyle Korver and DeMarre Carroll scored 20 points apiece Monday and the hot Hawks picked up their 50th win of the season, with a 130-105 crowning of the visiting Sacramento Kings. “Just a good offensive performance,” said Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer. “The ball movement was good, the passing was crisp and we were able to get a rhythm going.” Korver was one of three players rested in Saturday’s surprising 92-84 road loss to lowly Philadelphia. The night off seemed to benefit the struggling 3-point specialist, who got back on track, hitting 6-of-8 triples as the Hawks set a franchise-record with 20 from behind the arc in the beat-down. “A couple of guys started hitting and it snowballed for us,” Korver said. “It’s good to see the ball in the basket because it’s been a couple of tough weeks for me.” Jeff Teague had 18 points with 13 assists, Germany’s Dennis Schroder added 12 off the bench as East-best Atlanta (50-13) shot a sizzling 60% from the field, posted an NBA season-best 42 assists en route to its highest scoring game of the year. “That’s everything as far as the way we wanted to play,” said Hawks centre Al Horford, who added 18 points. “We wanted to have high assists and that’s Hawks basketball.” Carroll set the tone pouring in all his points in the opening half as Atlanta raced to a 76-54 lead. The Hawks carried a 105-82 cushion into the fourth quarter en route to their 13th straight win in the series. Elsewhere, Memphis star Marc Gasol scored a game-high 23 points and outshone brother Pau in a sibling rivalry matchup of Spanish big men as the Grizzlies beat Chicago 101-91 Monday. Jeff Green added 19 points for Memphis while Zach Randolph scored 16 and pulled down nine rebounds for the Grizzlies, who improved to 45-18, the third-best record in the NBA. Memphis, two games ahead of Houston atop the Southwest division, closed the game on a 17-3 run and avenged a home loss to the Bulls earlier this season. Tony Snell scored 21 points to Chicago, 11 of them in a 23-6 run to put the Bulls ahead 88-84 around the mid-point of the fourth quarter. The Grizzlies scored the next 11 points to start their closing run to victory. “We had to get aggressive defensively,” Marc Gasol said. “They had space and it creates a lot of lanes. We were able to read what they were doing and make some shots and were able to pull out a win.” Marc Gasol scored 15 points in the fourth quarter. “I was open. My teammates found me. I was able to make some shots,” Marc Gasol said. “To win by 10 here was not easy. We put together a good game.” Pau Gasol had 13 points and 11 rebounds for the Bulls, who suffered their third loss in a row in falling to 39-26. Aaron Brooks added 15 points for the Bulls while Nikola Mirotic had 18 points and 12 rebounds off the bench for Chicago. The Bulls updated the injury status of Derrick Rose, who said he expects to return this season from a right knee injury. “I feel good, in a positive space right now,” Rose said, adding of a return before the playoffs, “That’s the plan. Whenever I feel right, that’s when I’ll step back.” Rose has been nagged with knee injuries over the past several seasons but has taken an optimistic turn about the latest layoff. “This time could be a blessing in disguise, give me time to work on all the little injuries I had this season,” Rose said. Anthony Davis matched the highest scoring performance of his NBA career with 43 pounds and also grabbed 10 rebounds Monday as the New Orleans Pelicans won 114-103 at Milwaukee. Davis also added six assists and blocked two shots for New Orleans, which improved to 35-29 and pulled within one loss of Oklahoma City for the eighth and final Western Conference playoff berth. Eric Gordon added 16 points for the Pelicans, who had 13 points and six assists from Tyreke Evans before he suffered a left ankle injury in the third quarter. He was helped off the court and did not return. Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo scored a career-best 29 points for the Bucks, who also had 25 points from Michael Carter-Williams, his best performance since being obtained at the NBA trade deadline. The Bucks suffered their seventh loss in nine games and fell to 33-30, sixth in the Eastern Conference.