ATLANTA — Josh Smith isn’t concerned that the Atlanta Hawks have yet to beat a team with a winning record.
Even against a struggling Southeast Division opponent like Washington, the Hawks must start somewhere.
“We hadn’t had a game like this all season,” Smith said. “We have to make a statement every time we play a division team. We just have to get wins at this point.”
Joe Johnson (Little Rock Central, Arkansas Razorbacks) scored 21 points, Smith added 20 with 14 rebounds and Atlanta beat the Wizards 116-96 on Thursday night to snap a three-game losing streak.
Al Horford finished with 15 points and 13 rebounds for the Hawks, who won their 11th consecutive over Washington. The fourth-year center credited a team meeting with helping to straighten out some misguided principles.
Before the game, Coach Larry Drew indicated he was close to making some lineup changes if he didn’t see an improved effort on defense. A blowout loss at home Monday to Boston embarrassed the entire team.
“We addressed a lot of issues we had as a team,” Horford said. “I kind of wanted to go out and show it. I didn’t want to talk about it before the game. We did that tonight, and I’m happy to get this win.”
Gilbert Arenas scored 21 and Nick Young added 20 for the Wizards, who still seek their first victory against an opponent with a winning record and their first road victory, too.
Washington rookie John Wall, the NBA’s No. 1 overall draft pick, finished with 10 points, missing his first seven shots from the field and failing to score until his runner made it 69-50 midway through the third quarter.
“We get paid for this,” Wall said. “This is our job, this is our dream. This is what we want to do. So we need to start acting like it and take it more serious.”
The game’s outcome was all but decided after Arenas’ three-pointer cut the lead to eight with five minutes left in the second. Over the next 18 minutes, Washington was outscored 51-22, a run that ended with three free throws by Jamal Crawford.
Washington was held to a season-low 18 points in the first quarter, a welcomed change for a Hawks team that trailed entering the second period in its last four games.
“The disappointing thing was our lack of competitiveness to start the game,” Wizards Coach Flip Saunders said. “I couldn’t understand why. [The Wizards] basically had a day off, had anopportunity and just did not match their intensity. We’ve been getting destroyed by points in the paint. We just haven’t shown any physical presence and we have notcompeted against a good team yet.”
Smith gave the Hawks a 21-point lead midway through the third with a left-handed dunk. Drew called the play during a timeout, and Johnson responded with a wellplaced alley-oop pass to Smith, who jumped past Wall for the jam near the right baseline.
Drew rested his starters in the fourth quarter. Saunders did the same except for leaving Arenas on the floor to work with some of Washington’s younger players.
Wall, though, sat during the final period. Before returning as a reserve in an overtime victory over Philadelphia on Tuesday, Wall missed four games with a sprained left foot and is alsobattling a sore knee.
Wizards forward Andray Blatche left the game in the third and didn’t return after colliding with Smith on an offensive rebound attempt and getting poked in both eyes.
NBA calendar Jan. 5 10-day contracts may be signed.
Jan. 10 All contracts are guaranteed for the remainder of the season.
Feb. 18-20 All-Star game (Los Angeles).
Feb. 24 Trade deadline, 2 p.m. CST.
April 13 Regular season ends.
April 14 Rosters set for playoffs, 2 p.m. CDT.
April 16 Playoffs begin.
May 17 NBA draft lottery.
June 2 NBA Finals begin (possible move up to May 31).
June 16 Latest possible date for the finals.
Sports, Pages 25 on 11/26/2010