Atlanta Hawks handed Charlotte Bobcats their 10th loss in a row Thursday night with a 113-90 victory.
Devin Harris scored 20 points and made seven out of 11 attempts from the floor, while Josh Smith had 18 points and five rebounds against the Bobcats. Kyle Korver contributed with 13 points, three rebounds and had five out of seven attempts for the Hawks.
"I think mentally, in the locker room, we just decided that we were going to do it," the Associated Press quoted Korver as saying. "It's easy to let up when you've got a lead and you're trying to create some energy, and we've done that several times."
For the Bobcats, Gerald Henderson led with 17 points, three rebounds and three assists, while Ramon Sessions scored 16. Kemba Walker finished with 13 points and six assists.
"As I've stated before, we have to develop that killer instinct and keep playing well even when you have teams down," coach Larry Drew said. "We built a 28-point lead at one point, but they cut into it."
For the Hawks, Lou Williams added eight in the first half. He dished out nine assists, which is his highest in his career so far. Ivan Johnson added a season-high 16 points and chipped in with eight rebounds, whereas Al Horford scored 11 points and made five out of nine attempts.
The Bobcats completed 34 out of 79 shots from the field and had six three-pointers, whereas the Hawks had 43 out of 75 and 14 three pointers.
"When you dig a hole like that, it's going to be tough," Jeff Taylor said. "We're a young team, but we will stay together and hopefully start playing better and getting some breaks as well."
Charlotte, who lost to the Los Angeles Clippers at home on Wednesday, are passing through one of the worst phases in the NBA.
"We can't come up with any consistent stops," Henderson said. "It's on everybody. We're playing in the NBA. There are some tough matchups out there for whatever lineups we have out there."
After being completely outshined by the Hawks in the first quarter, where the Hawks outscored them 30-19, the Bobcats played better in the second quarter, but they were again bettered with the second quarter score reading 30-24.
The Bobcats managed to tie the third quarter score 31-31. But the Hawks did not allow the Bobcats to make a comeback, and outscored them 22-16 in the final quarter to win the game.
"Normally when we get big leads, we tend to get complacent a little bit and kind of let our guards down," Smith said. "Tonight we were able to keep our foot on the gas and not let up."
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