Lou Williams was outstanding in the final quarter, helping the Atlanta Hawks to a 104-95 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Hawks did not allow their performance to dip in the absence of forward Josh Smith, who was out due to a sprained right ankle.
Williams scored 19 points out of which 10 were added in the most crucial fourth quarter of the game. Al Horford also performed well ending with 23 points and 12 rebounds.
"I thought the guys just came in here and rolled their sleeves up and played four solid quarters, and we're just really happy that we came in here and got a win," the Associated Press quoted Hawks head coach Larry Drew as saying.
Williams sparked the win for his side, netting a 24-foot jumper and the completing two clutch free throws which took the score to 91-84 in the Hawks' favor with less than five minutes remaining. The Hawks then were strong defensively, snuffing out any chance of the Thunder making a comeback.
"We've got new faces, a new team but we stuck with the offense," DeShawn Stevenson said. "We believe in ourselves. This is a great team.
"This is a team that could easily go back to the Eastern Conference finals or the Finals, and to come out here without Josh Smith is big."
All-Star Kevin Durant had 22 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists in a losing effort, but gave the ball away a little too frequently. "I wish I could have had a couple of those turnovers back," NBA's scoring champion said.
With the help of a 3-pointer from the left corner, Kevin Martin, who was recently traded to the Thunder as part of the James Harden deal, tried to bring his team back into the game. But Zaza Pachulia and Stevenson made a couple of baskets to stretch the lead to 100-91.
Williams, however, was the architect behind the victory. "Lou got into a rhythm," Drew said. "He got into a rhythm and we were going to ride it.
"I had to make a decision whether to bring (starters) Jeff (Teague) and Kyle (Korver) back, but the group that was in there, they had a good rhythm going and I did not want to do anything to disrupt that.
"So, we decided to ride Lou's hot hand and he made some really big baskets. He made some really big plays for us."
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