The Atlanta Hawks got their road trip off to a good start by pulling out a tough 97-92 road win over the Milwaukee Bucks.
Atlanta trailed 83-79 with 3:19 remaining in the fourth before battling back behind nine straight points from Joe Johnson to take an 88-85 lead. Milwaukee tied the game on a Drew Gooden corner three to make the score 88-88 with 1:01 remaining in the game.
On the next possession, Milwaukee doubled Johnson on a drive who kicked out to Jeff Teague who found a wide open Josh Smith in the corner for a three that put the Hawks back in front for good 91-88. Johnson finished off the Bucks with six straight free throws down the stretch.
Johnson scored 24 of his game-high 28 points in the second half with 16 coming in the fourth quarter. Josh Smith finished with 19 points and 13 rebounds to go along with four assists and three blocks. Jeff Teague scored 11 of his 15 points in the first quarter and also had six boards and five assists. Zaza Pachulia started the game and played 38 minutes finishing with nine points and 14 rebounds.
Brandon Jennings led Milwaukee with 21 points and 11 assists on 9-22 shooting. Mike Dunleavy was hot for most of the night before cooling off in the fourth quarter to finish with 17. Drew Gooden added 13 and Ersan Ilyasove 10 for the Bucks.
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