Atlanta, GA (SportsNetwork.com) - Mike Muscala shot 8-for-9 and led Atlanta in scoring for the first time in his career with 17 points, as the Hawks clamped down defensively in the second half and crushed the Charlotte Hornets, 104-80.
Kyle Korver scored 16 points and Al Horford tallied 15, eight rebounds and three blocks for the Hawks, winners in 14 of their last 16 home games against Charlotte.
With the victory, Atlanta reached the 60-win mark for the first time in franchise history. It has road games against Washington and Chicago and a home clash with New York to finish out the regular season.
"We can feel good about 60 wins, that's a great accomplishment," said Korver.
The Hawks trailed 48-47 at halftime but flipped the script by scoring 15 of the first 20 points out of halftime. Horford outscored Charlotte 7-5 by himself over the first eight minutes of the third quarter, Jeff Teague added a pair of baskets and the lead was 62-53.
Korver opened the fourth with a deep 3 to extend the lead to 73-60. Muscala made it 14 with a putback slam on a Dennis Schroder miss three minutes later, and the margin never dipped under 14 down the stretch.
Troy Daniels had 15 points off the bench to pace the lowly Hornets, who were primed to make a postseason run before this current 5-13 stretch. They were eliminated from postseason contention with the loss and Boston's win over Cleveland on Friday.
"We don't have a lot of ways to score with the group that we have," said Hornets coach Steve Clifford. "I thought we played a good first half. Then they did a good job, particularly with our pick and roll game."
Neither team shot well during the first quarter, which ended in a 15-15 tie. The Hawks held a narrow lead for most of the second before Kemba Walker's three-point play with nine seconds left put the Hornets in front, 48-45. Muscala's alley-oop from Teague made it a one-point game at the half.
Game Notes
The two teams tied the season series, 2-2, with the home team winning all four games ... Hawks guard Thabo Sefolosha has been ruled out for the season with a broken fibula and ligament damage suffered during his arrest earlier in the week ... Atlanta forward Paul Millsap (shoulder) missed his third straight game. Millsap is expected back before the playoffs ... Atlanta improved to 52-4 this season when leading by double digits at any point in the game ... Schroder scored 14 points off the bench.
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