07-22-2019, 12:53 AM
INDIANAPOLIS - Accustomed to using its offence to win games, the Atlanta Hawks have recently relied upon its defence. That was the case when the Hawks beat the Indiana Pacers 108-92 on Monday night. It was the fifth time in the last seven games that the Hawks have held an opponent under 100 points.I think our defence is superb right now, said DeMarre Carroll.The Hawks (14-6) have now won eight of their last nine games, including seven straight, their longest streak since the 2009-10 season.The Hawks dominated early and built a 28-18 lead in the first quarter.Carroll led the Hawks early, scoring nine points — all from 3-point range. He finished with 12 points.Carroll has been struggling, so it was good that he got going Jeff Teague said. Once that happened it created a lot of open looks for everybody.Al Horford led the Hawks with a season-high 25 points and had eight rebounds and was one of four players to score in double figures. Teague had 21 points and Kyle Korver added 13.Our guys activity and energy on both ends of the court was good, Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said. We just need to keep getting better and build off that.The Hawks came out firing from long range. Atlanta was 6 of 13 on 3-pointers during the first half, but struggled in the second half and finished 9 of 21.Weve had some good first quarters and obviously if we can make a couple threes that will open up the court and maybe allow us to get to the basket, Budenholzer said. The early outside success opened things up inside as the Hawks scored 22 points in the paint in the first half and finished with 48.The Hawks pushed their lead to 21 points three times. The first time was when Teague scored on a layup, was fouled and hit the freethrow to put Atlanta up 68-47 with 8:25 to play in the third quarter.Indiana went on a couple of runs. Late in the first half the Pacers went on a 10-2 run to close the gap to 49-39, but the Hawks answered and took a 60-43 lead into the half.C.J. Miles led a fourth-quarter run, scoring all 15 of his points in the final period. Rodney Stuckey also scored 15 points for Indiana. But it wasnt enough. But it wasnt enough for the Pacers.Our energy level throughout the whole 48 minutes is not what it should be, Scola said. Teams are coming at us early and then we try to react and its just too hard.___BITTEN BY THE BUG AGAINThe Pacers lost another key player when Ian Mahinmi tore his left plantar fascia during Fridays loss to Sacramento. Last season the Pacers had 17 players on the roster throughout the season and they missed a combined 69 games. This season through 14 games, seven players have missed a combined 71.TIP-INSAtlanta: The Hawks averaged 103.3 points and 27.7 assists and held their opponents to 88.7 points during the six-game winning streak that were on entering Monday nights game. Horford (11), Carroll (10) and Teague (10) each scored in double figures during the first half.Indiana: The Pacers current five-game losing streak is their second of the season. The first was October 31-November 8 when they dropped six straight. Indiana averaged 72.5 per cent from the free-throw line entering the game and its 53 per cent was near its season low of 50 per cent.UP NEXTAtlanta: Host the Philadelphia 76ers on WednesdayIndiana: Host the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday Patrice Bergeron Bruins Jersey . -- The Guelph Storm are moving on to the Western Conference final after defeating the London Knights 5-4 on Friday in Ontario Hockey League playoff action. Charlie McAvoy Bruins Jersey . George Hill had 13 points and seven rebounds for the Pacers, who stayed atop the overall NBA standings despite losing twice on their West Coast trip. Los Angeles kept it close into the second half before the Pacers finished an easy win over the injury-riddled Lakers, who have lost five straight. http://www.thebostonbruinshockey.com/bra...ey-jersey/. Tennis Australia chief executive Craig Tiley told local media in comments published Wednesday that John Tomic would not be allowed into Melbourne Park in any official capacity or as a spectator. Jeremy Lauzon Bruins Jersey . - The Toronto Blue Jays have optioned pitchers Kyle Drabek, Chad Jenkins and Sean Nolin to triple-A Buffalo. Danton Heinen Bruins Jersey . Louis, MO (SportsNetwork.GREEN BAY, Wis. -- The Green Bay Packers know what life is like without Clay Matthews, and theyre bracing themselves again for being without their four-time Pro Bowl outside linebacker for an extended time after Matthews broke his right thumb during Sundays 22-9 victory over the Detroit Lions at Lambeau Field. Packers coach Mike McCarthy said in his usual day-after-the-game news conference Monday afternoon that Matthews was at a doctors appointment being examined and that he was unsure how long his star defensive player would be sidelined. "All the informations not in yet," McCarthy said. "I really dont have anything to announce there." Matthews, who left the Packers pre-bye loss at Cincinnati on Sept. 22 with a hamstring injury he suffered while forcing his second fumble of the game on a hit on quarterback Andy Dalton, injured his thumb on the final play of the third quarter, when he came unblocked and sacked Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford for a 12-yard loss. "I told him hes going to have to stop sacking the quarterback because the last two weeks, hes injured himself sacking the quarterback," defensive co-ordinator Dom Capers said jokingly. Matthews grabbed for Stafford with his right hand and then hit the hand on the ground and he finished the play. Afterward, Matthews could be seen looking at his hand before coming off the field, and when he came to the Packers sideline, he reached across his face to unsnap his chinstrap on the right side of this helmet with his left hand. He was then taken to the locker room for x-rays by the Packers medical staff. Assuming Matthews at least misses next Sundays game at defending Super Bowl-champion Baltimore, it would mark the fourth straight year that Matthews will have been sidelined for at least one game. After playing all 16 games as a rookie in 2009, when he missed most of training camp with a hamstring injury, Matthews missed one game in 2010 wiith a hamstring injury.dddddddddddd In 2011, he was a healthy inactive for the meaningless regular-season finale against Detroit after the Packers had locked up home-field advantage for the playoffs, but he missed four games last season with a hamstring injury before returning from the layoff and recording seven sacks in the next five games (including playoffs). Without Matthews, who had five tackles and a sack in Sundays game, the Packers played Mike Neal and Nick Perry as their outside linebackers. Neal, a converted defensive end, finished with a sack and six tackles; Perry, the teams first-round pick last year whose season ended after six games because of wrist surgery, finished with two sacks and five tackles; Neal had one sack and six tackles. "The one encouraging thing to me is, I think Mike Neal has made really good strides. I think you saw him play his best game yesterday, I think you saw Nick Perry play his best game yesterday," Capers said. And thats the nature of this business. "Not knowing (Matthews) status and whats going to go on there, we need for Mike Neal and Nick Perry to be ready to play next week the way they played this week. Because they played their best football this week." Meanwhile, the Packers apparently arent overly concerned about the hamstring injury suffered by starting inside linebacker Brad Jones. After Jones left Sundays game with the injury, he was replaced by backup Robert Francois, who suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon later in the game. Francois was placed on season-ending injured reserve Monday, but rather than replacing him with another inside linebacker, the Packers instead called up cornerback James Nixon from the practice squad. That leaves them with three other inside linebackers besides Jones - fellow starter A.J. Hawk, veteran backup Jamari Lattimore and rookie seventh-round pick Sam Barrington. ' ' '