Atlanta, GA – Josh Smith and Al Horford combined for 53 points to lead the Atlanta Hawks to a 126-119 double-overtime win over the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday.
Smith had 31 points to go with 10 rebounds, six assists and two blocks, and Horford chipped in with 22 points and 10 boards. Lou Williams added 18 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, while Jeff Teague netted 17 points and handed out 11 assists for the Hawks, who have won back-to-back games.
"They started making plays and Will Bynum got hot early on and gave them confidence," Smith said. "We had some two-point plays, but all those three- point plays kind of closed the gap early. It is hard when a guy is hitting that many shots."
Will Bynum had 31 points off the bench while Andre Drummond and Rodney Stuckey added 16 points apiece for the Pistons, who had a two-game winning streak snapped.
Drummond also pulled down 12 rebounds and Stuckey had 11 assists in the setback.
"I thought the second unit showed great resolve after being down 22 and to fight their tails off," said Detroit head coach Lawrence Frank "Obviously we had some great opportunities to win the game. At the end of regulation we just couldn't come up with the one stop we needed."
Detroit trailed by as many as 22 in the fourth quarter, but used a 24-7 run over the final 6 1/2 minutes of regulation to force overtime. Austin Daye's triple with four seconds showing gave the Pistons a 101-100 lead, but Horford was fouled with 1.8 ticks left and split the subsequent free throws to force the first bonus period.
Both teams struggled offensively in the first overtime, but the Pistons opened up a 108-104 lead with 1:40 left. Horford's layup made it a two-point game, and Teague nailed a pair from the charity stripe to knot things at 108. Neither team could get a bucket the rest of the way and the teams headed to double overtime.
A 9-4 surge gave Atlanta a 117-112 lead, but Bynum's floater cut it to 117-114. Kyle Korver, who struggled shooting all game, nailed a 3-pointer with 1:40 left to push the Hawks' spread to 120-114 and Williams knocked down a jumper 42 seconds later to give Atlanta an eight-point cushion.
Atlanta gave up a layup to Bynum and a 3-pointer to Stuckey, but went 4-for-4 from the line down the stretch to hold on for the hard-fought win.
The teams traded blows over the opening 3 1/2 minutes of the game, but back- to-back Smith slams, followed by a Korver 3-ball sparked a 22-5 run to put the Hawks up 26-10. Prince added a triple with 16.5 seconds left to cut the Piston's deficit to 13, but Horford buried a jumper within the final second of the frame and Atlanta led, 28-13, entering the second period.
The Hawks pushed their lead to 48-36 following Smith's 3-pointer with just over 2 1/2 minutes left in the first half, but the Pistons used a 9-2 run the rest of the way to go into the break down just 50-45.
Detroit pulled within 52-49 early in the third quarter, but a 24-13 sequence gave the Hawks a 76-62 lead with just under 10 minutes played in the frame. Anthony Morrow's layup and a DeShawn Stevenson 3-pointer put Atlanta up 81-62.
Game Notes
Morrow had 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting ... Atlanta forced 18 turnovers while giving it away just 10 times ... The Pistons shot 51.9 percent (14-for-27) from long range ... The Detroit bench outscored the Hawks' reserves, 85-30.
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