Indiana at Atlanta

[Real Deal]

TIME: 7:00 PM ET

TV: NBALP

[Built Ford Tough]

http://sports.cbsimg.net/u/photos/basketball/nba/img21470149.jpg

 

ATLANTA -- Al Horford believes the Atlanta Hawks are starting to tap into their potential.

 

Even with Josh Smith injured and unable to play, the Hawks still got some important baskets, rebounds and defensive stops from role players in a 109-100 over the Indiana Pacers on Saturday night.

 

"I think it showed growth from our team being in a position where they made a run at us and we needed to score," Horford said. "Guys scored some key points. We got stops when we needed to. That was a game where we got better."

 

Lou Williams had 21 points and a career-high 12 assists, Horford added 20 points and Atlanta won its fourth straight.

 

David West scored a game-high 29 points for the Pacers, who had won four in a row and seven of eight.

 

Smith, Atlanta's leading scorer this season, watched the game from the bench as Zaza Pachulia made his seventh start of the season and responded with 17 points and a game-high 14 rebounds.

 

Williams, who signed in the offseason to be the Hawks' sixth man, had his first career double-double. Rookie John Jenkins scored a career-high 10 points, and Ivan Johnson shook off flu-like symptoms to add six points and six rebounds.

 

Injuries to reserve guards Devin Harris and Anthony Morrow left Atlanta coach Larry Drew with just nine players in his rotation, but Indiana never got closer than three in the fourth quarter after Paul George's three-point play made it 91-88 at the 5:18 mark.

 

Jeff Teague's floating runner made it 101-90 less than 3 minutes later. Teague scored 10 of his 15 points in the final period.

 

"From a production standpoint, everybody gave a little something," Drew said. "We did what we had to do, particularly on the defensive end. We had to make a lot of adjustments as the game went on to try to keep them off-balance a little bit."

 

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/gametracker/recap/NBA_20121229_IND@ATL