ATLANTA — Joe Johnson admitted the Atlanta Hawks couldn’t resist looking past the Sacramento Kings “maybe a little” to their next game at Miami.
If not for Johnson’s play in the f inal minute, the Hawks’ lack of concentration could have been costly.
Johnson (Little Rock Central, Arkansas Razorbacks) scored a season-high 36 points, including two free throws with 0.6 seconds remaining, and the Hawks recovered after trailing most of the game to beat the Kings 100-98 on Monday.
“The first three quarters our defense was pretty much nonexistent,” Johnson said. “In the fourth quarter we were able to make some stops.”
Hawks Coach Larry Drew said he was relieved “especially now that we have to go down to Miami” today.
“This could have been a very bad loss going to Miami.”
Johnson drove past three defenders for a layup with 23 seconds remaining to give Atlanta a 98-96 lead. Carl Landry answered with a tying basket for Sacramento with 11.7 seconds remaining.
Following a timeout, Johnson was fouled by Tyreke Evans on a drive with less than a second remaining. Johnson made both free throws.
The Kings, last in the Western Conference, fell to 3-15 on the road despite outplayingthe Hawks most of the game.
“We get ’em 47-38 on the boards, get nine more field-goal attempts [92-83], we only had seven turnovers for the game, it’s just a shame,” Kings Coach Paul Westphal said. “We played hard, we played well against a really good team at the end of a six-game road trip and just came up that short.”
Al Horford added 23 points with 9 rebounds and 7 blocks for Atlanta. Josh Smith had 19 points and 10 rebounds.
DeMarcus Cousins led Sacramento with 20 points. Beno Udrih had 17. Evans and Jason Thompson each had 16.
In other games, Blake Griffin had a career-high 47 points and 14 rebounds, and the host Los Angeles Clippers rallied to beat the Indiana Pacers 114-107. ... Vince Carter scored 29 points, including the 20,000th of his career, and the Phoenix Suns matched a season high with their third consecutive victory, 129-121 over the host New York Knicks. ... Rodney Stuckey scored 20 points to help the host Detroit Pistons send the Dallas Mavericks to their sixth consecutive loss, 103-89. ... David West had 23 points and 10 rebounds to help the host New Orleans Hornets win their fifth consecutive, 85-81 over the Toronto Raptors. ... Derrick Rose scored 22 points and had 12 assists and 10 rebounds and Luol Deng scored 28 points to lead the Chicago Bulls to a 96-84 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies. ... Kevin Martin scored 36 points and the host Houston Rockets recovered from their lowest first-half point total of the season (39) to beat the Milwaukee Bucks 93-84. ... Andre Iguodala, who had 16 points and 10 rebounds, hit the go-ahead jumper with 37.6 seconds left in overtime for the host Philadelphia 76ers in their 96-92 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats. ... John Wall had 19 points and a career-high 15 assists to lead the Washington Wizards past the Utah Jazz 108-101 for their fourth consecutive home victory and first twogame winning streak of the season. ... Monta Ellis had 26 points and nine assists to help the host Golden State Warriors beat the New Jersey Nets for the sixth consecutive time, 109-100. ... Kevin Garnett returned from injury to help the host Boston Bruins beat the Orlando Magic 109-106.
Sports, Pages 18 on 01/18/2011