The Atlanta Hawks cruised to a 116-96 win over the Washington Wizards on Thursday to snap a three-game losing run.
The win lifted Atlanta (9-7) to within two games of the Southeast Division-leading Orlando Magic and left the Wizards (5-9) winless on the road this season after seven games.
“We hadn’t had a game like this all season,” Atlanta’s Josh Smith said. “We have to make a statement every time we play a division team. We just have to get wins at this point.”
The Hawks took command of the game midway through the first quarter by outscoring the Wizards 19-4 during a five minute stretch. They continued to pour it on and led by as many as 27 points with 11 minutes to play.
“We have to change some things and just start playing hard,” said the Wizards’ John Wall, the No. 1 pick in this year’s NBA draft. “We get paid for this. This is our job, this is our dream. This is what we want to do. We got to start acting like it and taking it more serious.”
Joe Johnson led the Hawks with 21 points, Smith scored 20 and all 12 Atlanta players recorded points in a game where the bench players logged significant minutes.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
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