Hawks 100, Wizards 95
WASHINGTON -- Lou Williams scored 24 points and Josh Smith had 17 points and 13 rebounds as the Atlanta Hawks won for the third time in four games by defeating the Washington Wizards 100-95 in overtime on Tuesday night.
Kyle Korver scored 16 points for the Hawks (15-7), who have won all three matchups against the Wizards this season. They survived this back-and-forth game despite Jordan Crawford's triple-double with 27 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists for the Wizards (3-19), losers of four straight.
Tied at 93 with two minutes left in overtime, DeShawn Stevenson drained a 3-pointer and later added a free throw, putting the Hawks ahead for good. Leading 98-95, Atlanta committed a 24-second shot-clock violation, giving Washington possession with 24 seconds, but Smith stuffed Nene at the rim for his fifth block of the game. Korver made two free throws with 7.7 seconds remaining to seal the win.
The game included 20 lead changes -- three coming inside the final three minutes of regulation -- and 12 ties. Trailing 85-82 with 2:52 remaining in regulation, Crawford matched his career high with his fifth 3-pointer. After Williams' bomb from beyond the arc put the Hawks up 90-88 with 43 seconds left, Earl Barron's jumper pulled Washington even with 23 seconds left. Both teams had a final possession, but Jeff Teague was called for an offensive foul and Crawford's buzzer-beating attempt missed.
Teague finished with 13 points for the Hawks.
Crawford also set a career high for rebounds while his 11 assists matched a personal best. Nene scored 18 points and Bradley Beal 17 for the Wizards, who received a surprise contribution from Barron. In a season-high 26 minutes, the seldom-used reserve grabbed 14 rebounds, six offensive.
Trailing 52-46 at halftime, Crawford ignited a 10-2 surge with an alley-oop pass to Martell Webster followed by a jumper and consecutive 3-pointers.
The Southeastern division foes have already met three times this season. Atlanta won both games on its homecourt; 101-100 in overtime on Nov. 21 and 104-95 on Dec. 7. Smith recorded a double-double in all three meetings.
The Hawks jumped out to a 10-2 lead and stayed ahead until consecutive jump hooks by Kevin Seraphin and a Nene fast-break dunk moved Washington in front 32-31 early in the second quarter. After Seraphin picked up his third foul with six minutes remaining, the Hawks immediately went on an 8-0 run and led 52-46 at halftime.
Korver scored 10 points in the first half, perfect on three 3-point attempts.
Beal sank 6 of 7 shots and scored 12 in the first half. Washington's rookie attempted a running dunk in the third quarter, but fell hard on his back. Down for a few seconds, Beal went into the locker room briefly before returning in the fourth. He missed 13 of his final 15 attempts.
