PHILADELPHIA (AP)—The Philadelphia 76ers flicked the switch in the third
quarter and swept past the Atlanta Hawks 90-76 on Friday in a clash of NBA
division leaders.

Jrue Holiday had 16 points and 11 assists, and Thaddeus Young scored 20
points for Philadelphia, which improved to 7-1 at home.

The Sixers left a dismal first half in the dust with a sensational third
quarter. Jodie Meeks hit a pair of 3-pointers and Andre Iguodala rocked nearly
18,000 fans with a pair of thunderous dunks during a 14-0 run.

Ex-Sixer Willie Green scored 14 points for the Hawks, who had been in
control and seemed on course for a fifth straight win until the 76ers found
their way.

———

BULLS 114, CAVALIERS 75

In Cleveland, Chicago made light of the absence of star Derrick Rose by
handing Cleveland its heaviest ever home defeat.

Luol Deng scored 21 points, and Carlos Boozer added 19 and 14 rebounds for
the Bulls, who barely missed reigning league MVP Rose, who sat out his third
straight game with a toe injury.

The 39-point margin was the most lopsided defeat ever inflicted on the Cavs
in Cleveland, surpassing 35-point losses suffered in 1990 and 2001.

It could have been worse. Chicago, which has the league’s best record at
14-3, led by 42 points in the fourth quarter when all the Bulls’ starters were
resting on the bench.

Anderson Varejao scored 14 points and rookie Kyrie Irving added 13 for the
Cavs.

———

TRAIL BLAZERS 94, RAPTORS 84

In Toronto, LaMarcus Aldridge had a season-high 33 points and a career-best
23 rebounds as Portland handed Toronto its seventh consecutive loss.

Raymond Felton scored 14 points as the Blazers won their seventh straight
over Toronto. Portland has not lost to the Raptors since 2006-07.

James Johnson scored a career-high 23 points for the Raptors.

———

NUGGETS 108, WIZARDS 104

In Washington, Al Harrington scored a season-high 29 points, making the
difference in Denver’s tight win over Washington.

Danilo Gallinari and Ty Lawson each had 21 for the Nuggets, who made it five
wins in six games despite the absence of Nene with a bruised heel.

Washington led 100-98 with 2:07 to play, before an equalizing basket then a
Harrington 3-pointer with 1:14 left to make it 103-98.

Nick Young’s 25 points led the Wizards, who dropped to a miserable 2-13.

———

SUNS 79, CELTICS 71

In Boston, Marcin Gortat scored 24 points with 12 rebounds to lead Phoenix
over Boston in a low-scoring encounter.

Steve Nash had 11 points and nine assists for the Suns.

Playing without point guard Rajon Rondo, the team’s most consistent starter
this year, the Celtics had their lowest-scoring game of the season. They lost
for the sixth time in seven games and fell to 0-4 against the Western
Conference.

Ray Allen led the Celtics with 14 points and six rebounds.

———

BUCKS 100, KNICKS 86

In New York, Brandon Jennings scored a season-high 36 points as Milwaukee
won on the road for the first time this season, beating New York.

The Bucks won for the sixth time in their last seven trips to New York,
where they outplayed a Knicks team that has lost five straight overall and is
quickly losing the support of its demanding fans.

Milwaukee dominated the second half behind Jennings, who loves to make the
Knicks pay for passing on him with the No. 8 pick in the 2009 draft.

Carmelo Anthony scored 35 points for the Knicks before he was ejected with
1:33 left after picking up his second technical foul.

———

GRIZZLIES 98, PISTONS 81

In Auburn Hills, Michigan, Rudy Gay scored 24 points to help surging Memphis
hold off a second-half rally by Detroit.

Marc Gasol had 17 points for the Grizzlies, who have won five straight. They
led by 23 in the third quarter before the Pistons fought back, cutting the
deficit to six in the fourth.

Rookie guard Brandon Knight scored 22 points for Detroit, which has lost 10
of 11. The Pistons were without guards Rodney Stuckey (groin) and Will Bynum
(right foot), as well as forward Charlie Villanueva (right ankle).

ATLANTA (AP) — Josh Smith believes the Atlanta Hawks can keep winning even though center Al Horford will miss the next three to four months with an injury.

“We have veteran guys who have been there and done that before,” Smith said. “All we need is to just keep flying under the radar.”

Smith scored 28 points and pulled down a season-high 15 rebounds and Joe Johnson added 27 points to help the Atlanta Hawks win their third straight game, 93-84 over the Toronto Raptors on Monday.

The Hawks are 3-0 since Horford tore his left pectoral muscle last week, and Smith is hardly concerned that Atlanta has yet to beat a strong opponent during that stretch. Charlotte, Minnesota and Toronto are a combined 11-29.

“We’ve played against some good teams here and some not-so-good teams, so we’ve just got to be able to be disciplined no matter who we’re playing against,” Smith said. “We have to be able to get out to a good start. The bench guys came in (Saturday) night and gave us a lift and the starters did the same thing today and everyone else followed.”

Leandro Barbosa had 22 points off the bench for Toronto, which has lost five straight.

Toronto was without center Andrea Bargnani, the NBA’s ninth-leading scorer, for the third straight game because of a strained left calf. Reserve guard James Johnson didn’t play because of a sprained right ankle.

The Raptors twice cut the lead to one late in the third quarter when Barbosa hit a pair of free throws and a runner, but Atlanta went on an 18-9 run that Jeff Teague ended with a free throw to make it 81-71 with 7:55 remaining.

Toronto never got closer than five after Ed Davis scored inside over Smith to make it 85-80 with 2:12 left.

Smith responded on the next possession by jumping from the right baseline and tipping in Johnson’s missed runner to give the Hawks an 87-80 lead.

“It sounds like a broken record, but I thought our guys competed,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. “We’re truly missing our players, but that’s no excuse. There’s only so much you can ask for from certain players. That’s not their role.”

Jose Calderon had 13 points and 11 assists and Amir Johnson added 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Raptors, who have lost seven of eight overall and dropped to 2-6 on the road.

The Hawks converted 17 Toronto turnovers into 22 points.

“I don’t want to make excuses, but we’re a young team and we have a new coach,” Calderon said. “Maybe we need some practice. Hopefully we can get on the same page. Sometimes we turn the ball over because we’re trying to do too much.”

Calderon likes that Casey wants the Raptors to run the floor with an up-tempo offense – an approach that could give Toronto a better chance to succeed when Bargnani and others return from injury.

“We just have to get used to this,” Calderon said. “We have to keep fighting. Everybody believes in what we’re doing, we just have to do it for 48 minutes. We’re competing. We’re not losing by 20 or 30 points.”

Teague, who gave Atlanta its biggest lead when his floating jumper made it 43-30 at the 3:55 mark of the second, is pleased that the Hawks are doing what comes natural and leaning on their two best scorers (Johnson and Smith) with Horford sidelined.

“It’s going to take team efforts every night,” Teague said. “We’ve played well the last few games, but coming in here (Wednesday), Portland is a really good team. They’ll play hard. We’ll just have to stay together.”

Atlanta improved to 10-4 overall, 6-1 at home.

ATLANTA – Josh Smith believes the Atlanta Hawks can keep winning even though centre Al Horford will miss the next three to four months with an injury.

“We have veteran guys who have been there and done that before,” Smith said. “All we need is to just keep flying under the radar.”

Smith scored 28 points and pulled down a season-high 15 rebounds and Joe Johnson added 27 points to help the Atlanta Hawks win their third straight game, 93-84 over the Toronto Raptors on Monday.

The Hawks are 3-0 since Horford tore his left pectoral muscle last week, and Smith is hardly concerned that Atlanta has yet to beat a strong opponent during that stretch. Charlotte, Minnesota and Toronto are a combined 11-29.

“We’ve played against some good teams here and some not-so-good teams, so we’ve just got to be able to be disciplined no matter who we’re playing against,” Smith said. “We have to be able to get out to a good start. The bench guys came in (Saturday) night and gave us a lift and the starters did the same thing today and everyone else followed.”

Leandro Barbosa had 22 points off the bench for Toronto, which has lost five straight.

Toronto was without centre Andrea Bargnani, the NBA’s ninth-leading scorer, for the third straight game because of a strained left calf. Reserve guard James Johnson didn’t play because of a sprained right ankle.

The Raptors twice cut the lead to one late in the third quarter when Barbosa hit a pair of free throws and a runner, but Atlanta went on an 18-9 run that Jeff Teague ended with a free throw to make it 81-71 with 7:55 remaining.

Toronto never got closer than five after Ed Davis scored inside over Smith to make it 85-80 with 2:12 left.

Smith responded on the next possession by jumping from the right baseline and tipping in Johnson’s missed runner to give the Hawks an 87-80 lead.

“It sounds like a broken record, but I thought our guys competed,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. “We’re truly missing our players, but that’s no excuse. There’s only so much you can ask for from certain players. That’s not their role.”

Jose Calderon had 13 points and 11 assists and Amir Johnson added 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Raptors, who have lost seven of eight overall and dropped to 2-6 on the road.

The Hawks converted 17 Toronto turnovers into 22 points.

“I don’t want to make excuses, but we’re a young team and we have a new coach,” Calderon said. “Maybe we need some practice. Hopefully we can get on the same page. Sometimes we turn the ball over because we’re trying to do too much.”

Calderon likes that Casey wants the Raptors to run the floor with an up-tempo offence — an approach that could give Toronto a better chance to succeed when Bargnani and others return from injury.

“We just have to get used to this,” Calderon said. “We have to keep fighting. Everybody believes in what we’re doing, we just have to do it for 48 minutes. We’re competing. We’re not losing by 20 or 30 points.”

Teague, who gave Atlanta its biggest lead when his floating jumper made it 43-30 at the 3:55 mark of the second, is pleased that the Hawks are doing what comes natural and leaning on their two best scorers (Johnson and Smith) with Horford sidelined.

“It’s going to take team efforts every night,” Teague said. “We’ve played well the last few games, but coming in here (Wednesday), Portland is a really good team. They’ll play hard. We’ll just have to stay together.”

Atlanta improved to 10-4 overall, 6-1 at home.

Notes: The Hawks never trailed after Smith’s layup made it 13-11 at the 6:35 mark of the first. … Davis had 11 rebounds. … Johnson and Teague each had six assists. … Hawks G Tracy McGrady finished with no points and three assists in 8 minutes after missing the past three games with back spasms. … Atlanta has won five straight over the Raptors and seven in a row at home.

ATLANTA—There were two plays in the Raptors’ 93-84 loss to the Atlanta Hawks here Monday that DeMar DeRozan will watch and he will wince when he sees them and he will hear his coach in his ear saying, “Yeah, that’s what I mean.”

They were, in the school vernacular of the day, “learning opportunities” and the Raptors can only hope the young shooting guard emerges better off from the roughest patch of his NBA career.

The first came as DeRozan found himself with the ball and almost a clear path to the basket in transition. But instead of going hard to the rim, knowing that a pursuing Hawk was likely to catch him and hit him, DeRozan made a passive move, had the ball stripped, saw it bounce off his foot out of bounds and an easy basket was lost.

The second came late in the game, with the Raptors desperately trying to pull off a miracle. With the ball at the top of three-point circle, the athletically gifted young man launched arguably the worst three-pointer of his life. It missed the rim and almost the backboard, finishing low and left — definitely not one for the highlight reels.

Those are moments that can’t happen if DeRozan is to realize his potential and if the Raptors are going to snap out of the five-game losing streak they find themselves in heading to Boston for a Wednesday finale to this three-game road trip.

“I knew going into this year with him being one of our top players that teams were going to hone in and lock in and it wasn’t going to be easy,” coach Dwane Casey said after DeRozan went 5-for-17 from the field and finished with just 10 points. “He’s got to make more of an (effort) to get open. Don’t give in to a guy (getting) into him. Leandro (Barbosa), they do him the same way but he works until he gets open and that’s something DeMar is going to have to learn to do, and he will.”

It is not fair to single out DeRozan for too much blame on a night when the Raptors once again turned the ball over far too often (17 times leading to 22 Atlanta points), missed too many free throws (just 15-for-22 from the line) and struggled score in the fourth quarter without the offensive abilities of Andrea Bargnani (just 13 Toronto points in the final 12 minutes).

But life as a basketball prodigy is not fair and until Bargnani gets back — and even after he does — DeRozan has to be better.

“Just gotta find my niche, that’s all,” said DeRozan. “(I’m) learning a lot of stuff, trying to get into the rhythm of stuff and once I find it, I think I’ll be fine.

“It’s just tough sometimes. We have to be able to execute and get easy shots for each other. A lot of times you find us taking a lot of difficult shots late in the shot clock, where we have to force shots up. That’s not good for none of us.”

As they have so often, the Raptors played well in some stretches with a zone defence that got them back in the game and enough offence — 22 points off the bench for Barbosa and 13 from each of Amir Johnson and Jose Calderon — to stay close.

But when it came time to win, they failed and the learning process drones on.

“I thought our zone was effective, I thought we did a good job in reading and recognizing and forcing them to shoot jump shots,” said Casey. “They made some big shots: Joe Johnson (27 points), that’s what he does, that’s what Josh Smith (28 points) does.

“We had some easy misses and that was the story of the game. They made their tough shots and we missed ours.”

CBSSports.com wire reports
Jan. 16, 2012

ATLANTA — Josh Smith believes the Atlanta Hawks can keep winning even though center Al Horford will miss the next three to four months with an injury.

“We have veteran guys who have been there and done that before,” Smith said. “All we need is to just keep flying under the radar.”

Smith scored 28 points and pulled down a season-high 15 rebounds and Joe Johnson added 27 points to help the Atlanta Hawks win their third straight game, 93-84 over the Toronto Raptors on Monday.

The Hawks are 3-0 since Horford tore his left pectoral muscle last week, and Smith is hardly concerned that Atlanta has yet to beat a strong opponent during that stretch. Charlotte, Minnesota and Toronto are a combined 11-29.

“We’ve played against some good teams here and some not-so-good teams, so we’ve just got to be able to be disciplined no matter who we’re playing against,” Smith said. “We have to be able to get out to a good start. The bench guys came in [Saturday] night and gave us a lift and the starters did the same thing today and everyone else followed.”

Leandro Barbosa had 22 points off the bench for Toronto, which has lost five straight.

Toronto was without center Andrea Bargnani, the NBA’s ninth-leading scorer, for the third straight game because of a strained left calf. Reserve guard James Johnson didn’t play because of a sprained right ankle.

The Raptors twice cut the lead to one late in the third quarter when Barbosa hit a pair of free throws and a runner, but Atlanta went on an 18-9 run that Jeff Teague ended with a free throw to make it 81-71 with 7:55 remaining.

Toronto never got closer than five after Ed Davis scored inside over Smith to make it 85-80 with 2:12 left.

Smith responded on the next possession by jumping from the right baseline and tipping in Johnson’s missed runner to give the Hawks an 87-80 lead.

“It sounds like a broken record, but I thought our guys competed,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. “We’re truly missing our players, but that’s no excuse. There’s only so much you can ask for from certain players. That’s not their role.”

Jose Calderon had 13 points and 11 assists and Amir Johnson added 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Raptors, who have lost seven of eight overall and dropped to 2-6 on the road.

The Hawks converted 17 Toronto turnovers into 22 points.

“I don’t want to make excuses, but we’re a young team and we have a new coach,” Calderon said. “Maybe we need some practice. Hopefully we can get on the same page. Sometimes we turn the ball over because we’re trying to do too much.”

Calderon likes that Casey wants the Raptors to run the floor with an up-tempo offense – an approach that could give Toronto a better chance to succeed when Bargnani and others return from injury.

“We just have to get used to this,” Calderon said. “We have to keep fighting. Everybody believes in what we’re doing, we just have to do it for 48 minutes. We’re competing. We’re not losing by 20 or 30 points.”

Teague, who gave Atlanta its biggest lead when his floating jumper made it 43-30 at the 3:55 mark of the second, is pleased that the Hawks are doing what comes natural and leaning on their two best scorers (Johnson and Smith) with Horford sidelined.

“It’s going to take team efforts every night,” Teague said. “We’ve played well the last few games, but coming in here [Wednesday], Portland is a really good team. They’ll play hard. We’ll just have to stay together.”

Atlanta improved to 10-4 overall, 6-1 at home.

Notes

The Hawks never trailed after Smith’s layup made it 13-11 at the 6:35 mark of the first. … Davis had 11 rebounds. … Johnson and Teague each had six assists. … Hawks G Tracy McGrady finished with no points and three assists in 8 minutes after missing the past three games with back spasms. … Atlanta has won five straight over the Raptors and seven in a row at home.

ATLANTA (AP)—Josh Smith believes the Atlanta Hawks can keep winning even
though center Al Horford will miss the next three to four months with an injury.

“We have veteran guys who have been there and done that before,” Smith
said. “All we need is to just keep flying under the radar.”

Smith scored 28 points and pulled down a season-high 15 rebounds and Joe
Johnson added 27 points to help the Atlanta Hawks win their third straight game,
93-84 over the Toronto Raptors on Monday.

The Hawks are 3-0 since Horford tore his left pectoral muscle last week, and
Smith is hardly concerned that Atlanta has yet to beat a strong opponent during
that stretch. Charlotte, Minnesota and Toronto are a combined 11-29.

“We’ve played against some good teams here and some not-so-good teams, so
we’ve just got to be able to be disciplined no matter who we’re playing
against,” Smith said. “We have to be able to get out to a good start. The
bench guys came in (Saturday) night and gave us a lift and the starters did the
same thing today and everyone else followed.”

Leandro Barbosa had 22 points off the bench for Toronto, which has lost five
straight.

Toronto was without center Andrea Bargnani, the NBA’s ninth-leading scorer,
for the third straight game because of a strained left calf. Reserve guard James
Johnson didn’t play because of a sprained right ankle.

The Raptors twice cut the lead to one late in the third quarter when Barbosa
hit a pair of free throws and a runner, but Atlanta went on an 18-9 run that
Jeff Teague ended with a free throw to make it 81-71 with 7:55 remaining.

Toronto never got closer than five after Ed Davis scored inside over Smith
to make it 85-80 with 2:12 left.

Smith responded on the next possession by jumping from the right baseline
and tipping in Johnson’s missed runner to give the Hawks an 87-80 lead.

“It sounds like a broken record, but I thought our guys competed,” Raptors
coach Dwane Casey said. “We’re truly missing our players, but that’s no excuse.
There’s only so much you can ask for from certain players. That’s not their
role.”

Jose Calderon had 13 points and 11 assists and Amir Johnson added 13 points
and 10 rebounds for the Raptors, who have lost seven of eight overall and
dropped to 2-6 on the road.

The Hawks converted 17 Toronto turnovers into 22 points.

“I don’t want to make excuses, but we’re a young team and we have a new
coach,” Calderon said. “Maybe we need some practice. Hopefully we can get on
the same page. Sometimes we turn the ball over because we’re trying to do too
much.”

Calderon likes that Casey wants the Raptors to run the floor with an
up-tempo offense—an approach that could give Toronto a better chance to
succeed when Bargnani and others return from injury.

“We just have to get used to this,” Calderon said. “We have to keep
fighting. Everybody believes in what we’re doing, we just have to do it for 48
minutes. We’re competing. We’re not losing by 20 or 30 points.”

Teague, who gave Atlanta its biggest lead when his floating jumper made it
43-30 at the 3:55 mark of the second, is pleased that the Hawks are doing what
comes natural and leaning on their two best scorers (Johnson and Smith) with
Horford sidelined.

“It’s going to take team efforts every night,” Teague said. “We’ve played
well the last few games, but coming in here (Wednesday), Portland is a really
good team. They’ll play hard. We’ll just have to stay together.”

Atlanta improved to 10-4 overall, 6-1 at home.

Notes: The Hawks never trailed after Smith’s layup made it 13-11 at the 6:35
mark of the first. … Davis had 11 rebounds. … Johnson and Teague each had
six assists. … Hawks G Tracy McGrady finished with no points and three assists
in 8 minutes after missing the past three games with back spasms. … Atlanta
has won five straight over the Raptors and seven in a row at home.

ATLANTA Josh Smith believes the Atlanta Hawks can keep winning even though centre Al Horford will miss the next three to four months with an injury.

“We have veteran guys who have been there and done that before,” Smith said. “All we need is to just keep flying under the radar.”

Smith scored 28 points and pulled down a season-high 15 rebounds and Joe Johnson added 27 points to help the Atlanta Hawks win their third straight game, 93-84 over the Toronto Raptors on Monday.

The Hawks are 3-0 since Horford tore his left pectoral muscle last week, and Smith is hardly concerned that Atlanta has yet to beat a strong opponent during that stretch. Charlotte, Minnesota and Toronto are a combined 11-29.

“We’ve played against some good teams here and some not-so-good teams, so we’ve just got to be able to be disciplined no matter who we’re playing against,” Smith said. “We have to be able to get out to a good start. The bench guys came in (Saturday) night and gave us a lift and the starters did the same thing today and everyone else followed.”

Leandro Barbosa had 22 points off the bench for Toronto, which has lost five straight.

Toronto was without centre Andrea Bargnani, the NBA’s ninth-leading scorer, for the third straight game because of a strained left calf. Reserve guard James Johnson didn’t play because of a sprained right ankle.

The Raptors twice cut the lead to one late in the third quarter when Barbosa hit a pair of free throws and a runner, but Atlanta went on an 18-9 run that Jeff Teague ended with a free throw to make it 81-71 with 7:55 remaining.

Toronto never got closer than five after Ed Davis scored inside over Smith to make it 85-80 with 2:12 left.

Smith responded on the next possession by jumping from the right baseline and tipping in Johnson’s missed runner to give the Hawks an 87-80 lead.

“It sounds like a broken record, but I thought our guys competed,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. “We’re truly missing our players, but that’s no excuse. There’s only so much you can ask for from certain players. That’s not their role.”

Jose Calderon had 13 points and 11 assists and Amir Johnson added 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Raptors, who have lost seven of eight overall and dropped to 2-6 on the road.

The Hawks converted 17 Toronto turnovers into 22 points.

“I don’t want to make excuses, but we’re a young team and we have a new coach,” Calderon said. “Maybe we need some practice. Hopefully we can get on the same page. Sometimes we turn the ball over because we’re trying to do too much.”

Calderon likes that Casey wants the Raptors to run the floor with an uptempo offence — an approach that could give Toronto a better chance to succeed when Bargnani and others return from injury.

“We just have to get used to this,” Calderon said. “We have to keep fighting. Everybody believes in what we’re doing, we just have to do it for 48 minutes. We’re competing. We’re not losing by 20 or 30 points.”

Teague, who gave Atlanta its biggest lead when his floating jumper made it 43-30 at the 3:55 mark of the second, is pleased that the Hawks are doing what comes natural and leaning on their two best scorers (Johnson and Smith) with Horford sidelined.

“It’s going to take team efforts every night,” Teague said. “We’ve played well the last few games, but coming in here (Wednesday), Portland is a really good team. They’ll play hard. We’ll just have to stay together.”

Atlanta improved to 10-4 overall, 6-1 at home.

NOTES: The Hawks never trailed after Smith’s layup made it 13-11 at the 6:35 mark of the first. … Davis had 11 rebounds. … Johnson and Teague each had six assists. … Hawks G Tracy McGrady finished with no points and three assists in eight minutes after missing the past three games with back spasms. … Atlanta has won five straight over the Raptors and seven in a row at home.

The Associated Press

Read More: Joe Johnson (G – ATL), Josh Smith (F – ATL), Jose Calderon (G – TOR), Amir Johnson (C – TOR), Atlanta Hawks, Toronto Raptors

After starting slowly, the Atlanta Hawks recovered to take a 26-18 first quarter lead over the Toronto Raptors. The Raptors jumped out to an early 11-5 lead before the Hawks went on a run to close the quarter.

Josh Smith hit consecutive field goal attempts in the first quarter for a fast 12 points. Joe Johnson has been really aggressive early with eight points, two assists and two steals. The Hawks hit 50 percent of its shots and got to the free throw line eight times in the quarter where they hit seven.

Jose Calderon leads the Raptors with six points and four assists. Amir Johnson had three points and two rebounds before two personal fouls sent him to the bench. Toronto turned the ball over seven times in the first quarter.

For more on this game Hawks fans should head over to Peachtree Hoops and Raptors fans should check out Raptors HQ. For more news and analysis on the NBA head over to SB Nation’s NBA page.