Hawks pull off shocker!
Hawks win in-style as they upset the Suns
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Hawks- 32 | 33 | 35 | 31 | 131
Suns- 24 | 31 | 22 | 35 | 102
PHOENIX, ARIZONA (AP)-The Hawks quite possibly won their biggest opening night game ever last night. They beat the heavily favored Suns, and beat them badly. The Hawks pummled the Suns, beating them by 29 points!
"I was really surprised with our guys' effort out their tonight. I'm really proud of them. They beat a really good Phoenix team tonight. It showed what our guys can do if they are clicking on all cylinders and they were tonight. I think they wanted to make a statement." Coach Woodson was really pleased with his team's success.
The Hawks had very balanced scoring with 4 players scoring 20+ points. (Walker, Harrington, Childress, and Smith). The first quarter is when Atlanta really made a statement that they weren't going to let the Suns stomp them on opening night. The Hawks came out scorching hot and managed to build an eight point lead at the end of the quarter behind Josh Childress's eight points.
The seconds quarter was evenly match as teams traded basket for basket basically everytime down the court. As you can see by the score, there was basically no defense in the game. The Hawks were led by Al Harrington, making his Hawks debut, in this quarter. He scored 18 of his 22 points. The Hawks took a 10 point lead into the half.
In the third quarter, the Hawks pulled away and sealed their victory as another new Hawk, Antoine Walker, had a great quarter, scoring 15 of his team-leading 23 points. The Hawks outscored the Suns by 13 in the quarter.
The Hawks played mostly reserves in the final quarter and rookie Josh Smith finished off his alrady strong night by scoring 10 of his 21 points in the quarter. The Hawks will look to make it two-in-a-row when they go to Seattle to play the Sonics.
Marquee Matchup
vs.
The winner of the
'Marquee Matchup' between Steve Nash and Tony Delk is: Steve Nash. Even though the Suns lost the game Steve Nash had an amazing night with 39 points, 12 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block, and 1 steal. Tony Delk could not stop Nash from penetrating and getting to the bucket. Delk had a nice night himself, but not enough to win the
Marquee Matchup!
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Antoine Walker won the Player Of The Game award for opening night. The New Hawk had a solid debut leading the team with 23 points, 8 rebounds, 1 assists, 2 blocks, and 3 steals.
Highlights
Antoine Walker hitting a jumper!
Young Josh Smith, slamming hit home!
Rookie Josh Childress flying high!
[ BOX SCORE ]
Up Next
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TV: FSN South
RADIO: WSB-AM (750)
Preview
The Hawks are trying to make it two in a row against the Sonics. They are coming off a game in which they beat the Suns by 29 points. They will need that same effort when the play the fast paced Sonics. They will also need the four players with over 20 points because they are going to need alot of points to beat the high-powered Sonics.
Marquee Matchup: Ray Allen vs. Josh Childress
The Atlanta Hawk's rookie is going to have to contain Ray Allen and his sharp shooting if Atlanta stands any chance of winning this game. He is also going to have to make big contributions on the offensive end. Alot to ask of a rookie in his second NBA game, don't you think?
PROBABLE STARTERS
HAWKS
C- Pedrag Drobjnak
PF- Antoine Walker
SF- Al Harrington
SG- Josh Childress
PG- Tony Delk
SONICS
C- Jerome James
PF- Reggie Evans
SF- Rashard Lewis
SG- Ray Allen
PG- Luke Ridnour
Even though you can't get the game in Oz, the thought that they got rid of that is ridiculous.
