Hawks fans breathed a sigh of relief when Joe Johnson emerged from the tunnel for warm-ups at half time. Johnson wasted little time in picking up where he left off scoring ten points in the quarter and now has 26 for the game. Mike Bibby added a three pointer and an old fashioned three point play in the period and now has 11 points for the game.
Atlanta clamped down defensively on the Bobcats in the 3rd quarter allowing only 18 points while scoring 31. After Josh Smith picked up his third and fourth fouls, Mike Bibby picked up a technical while complaining to the official. It looked like that sparked the Hawks as they picked it up on the boards while forcing the Bobcats into some long perimeter shots.
The Hawks also got contributions from bench players Zaza Pachulia and Damien Wilkins as both came in during the third and provided sparks defensively.
Now it is up to Atlanta to finish the job which would give them their eleventh win on the season in the second game of back to backs.