All the Atlanta Hawks needed to get back to their winning ways was a visit from the Minnesota Timberwolves. Al Horford had 28 points and Josh Smith added 23 to lead Atlanta to a 111-105 win over the the Timberwolves on Sunday afternoon at Philips Arena.
Joe Johnson had 17 points and Jamal Crawford added 11 for the Hawks, who snapped their losing streak at four and beat the Wolves for the 10th straight time. Atlanta, which has had all sorts of problems containing teams on the boards of late held a 15-12 advantage on the offensive board against the best teams in the league in that category. They held a 40-39 overall advantage on the glass.
"We've been playing hard but not hard enough," Horford told the team's TV telecast afterward. "We really made an effort to come out tonight against the best offensive rebounding team and do a good job."
Horford and Smith lead the way on the boards for Atlanta, posting 10 boards a piece. Horford, who missed two crucial free throws in Atlanta's 90-86 loss to the Utah Jazz on Friday, was a perfect 10-for-10 from the charity stripe on Sunday.
Atlanta also kept Kevin Love relatively at bay. The Minnesota big, who became the first player since Moses Malone to notch 30-plus points and 30-plus assists in the same game in the Wolves' home win against the New York Knicks, was held to 22 points and 17 boards. Michael Beasley lead all Timberwolves with 28 points on the afternoon.
Most importantly, the Hawks emerged with a much-needed win.
"It's very important," Crawford told the team's TV telecast afterward. "We just had to stop the bleeding. We struggled late in the game, but we had to win."