Al Horford scored 20 points and chipped in 10 rebounds in the Atlanta Hawks' victory over the Chicago Bulls 92-75 Saturday night.
According to Larry Drew, it was Hawks' energy that helped them win a game after two straight losses in the previous games.
''I wish I had the answer to that, to be perfectly honest,'' The Associated Press quoted Drew as saying. ''I don't care what our strategy is, or what the game plan is. If we don't play with good energy we're not going to be successful.
''That's the thing that will have you pulling your hair out ... it was a complete opposite.''
The Bulls were leading in the second quarter 31-28, but Atlanta took control of the game with an amazing 25-6 run and entered the second half with 53-37. After this, the Bulls could never dominate the game which they had started so well.
For the Hawks, all five starters scored two-digit points. Lou Williams scored 16 points and had six of 12 attempts from the floor, while Kyle Korver had 13 points and six rebounds; he also had four of eight attempts from the field.
For the Bulls, Luol Deng was the top scorer with 11 points, while Joakim Noah added 10 points and chipped in nine rebounds. No other Bulls could touch a two-digit score.
Atlanta starters scored 72 points, whereas Chicago starters had only 39. The Bulls had 31 rebounds in the game, whereas Atlanta had 45.
''Tough loss. The highs and lows of this thing are unbelievable,'' Noah said. ''One night you feel great because you won a big game, and then the next night you come out with the wrong mindset and you lose. Our energy was bad.''
The Hawks outscored the Bulls 25-17 in the third quarter and extended the 72-47 lead. The lead proved too much for the Bulls, who outscored the Hawks 21-14 in the fourth quarter, but still lost the game by 17 points.
''We got beat in every facet,'' Bulls coach Tom Thibodeux said. ''Our defense wasn't any good, our rebounding was poor, and you're on the road. You've got to play 48 minutes. You look at Atlanta, they played (Friday), too. They were on the road. It's a will game.''
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