ATLANTA, (Reuters) – The Atlanta Hawks cruised to a 116-96 win over the Washington Wizards on Thursday to snap a three-game losing run.
The win lifted Atlanta (9-7) to within two games of the Southeast Division-leading Orlando Magic and left the Wizards (5-9) winless on the road this season after seven games.
“We hadn’t had a game like this all season,” Atlanta’s Josh Smith said. “We have to make a statement every time we play a division team. We just have to get wins at this point.”
The Hawks took command of the game midway through the first quarter by outscoring the Wizards 19-4 over a five minute stretch. They continued to pour it on and led by as many as 27 points with 11 minutes to play.
“We have to change some things and just start playing hard,” said the Wizards’ John Wall, the top pick in this year’s draft. “We get paid for this. This is our job, this is our dream. This is what we want to do. We got to start acting like it and taking it more serious.”
Joe Johnson led the Hawks with 21 points, Smith scored 20 and all 12 Atlanta players recorded points in a game where the bench players logged significant minutes.
Gilbert Arenas was the leading scorer for the Wizards with 21 points while Wall had 10 points.
