The Brooklyn Nets hope Deron Williams will be ready for an encore performance when they invade the Peach State tonight for a showdown with the Atlanta Hawks at Philips Arena.
Williams is fresh off Friday's sizzling performance in which he buried an NBA- record nine 3-pointers in the first half of a 95-78 drubbing of the Washington Wizards. Williams hit 11-of-16 from downtown for 42 points and dished out five assists for the Nets, who have won two straight and seven of 11 games.
"I definitely got hot, especially in the first half," Williams said. "I hit the first couple and the shots, when they left my hand, felt good."
Reggie Evans pulled down a career-high 24 rebounds to go along with 11 points and Brook Lopez ended with 11 points as well. The Nets won despite shooting 39.5 percent and had a 61-44 advantage in rebounds.
Brooklyn is fourth in the East standings and will play two straight and 10 of the next 12 games away from Barclays Center. The Nets are 15-13 as the guest.
Meanwhile, the Hawks were edged by the Boston Celtics on the road Friday night, 107-102 in overtime.
The Celtics outscored the Hawks 13-8 in the extra period. Josh Smith ended with 32 points, nine assists and eight rebounds for the Hawks, who have dropped four of five to start the month. Atlanta ended February on a four-game winning streak.
Jeff Teague had 26 points and Al Horford recorded a double-double with 22 points and 13 boards in a losing cause. Boston recorded 21 points off 15 turnovers.
"I think the story of the game for us was turnovers down the stretch. I think that they just killed us. We can't turn the ball over," Horford said.
Horford has recorded three straight double-doubles and owns eight since mid- February.
Hawks coach Larry Drew used his 20th different starting lineup in Beantown, which is tied for highest amount of starting lineups in the NBA. Down a pair of big men in Zaza Pachulia (sore Achilles) and Ivan Johnson (personal), the Hawks still managed a 48-32 difference in the paint.
The Hawks, who were on the road for the seventh time in eight games, will try to push their home winning streak to three games Saturday and are 19-10 as the host this season. Atlanta is seventh in the East -- one-half game behind idle Chicago for the No. 5 spot.
Atlanta and Brooklyn have beaten each other once this season with both clubs winning as the host. The Hawks are 11-3 in the past 14 matchups in this series and unbeaten in the previous eight at home.
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