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Royal Pains: Nets blow out Hawks in London, 127-110

By Tom Lorenzo
Julian Finney

Live from London, yes, London, the Nets and Hawks got together for the Global Games and with all the hoopla behind them, they actually played basketball.

The game was somewhat light, or light-er, on star appeal with Deron Williams, Brook Lopez and Al Horford all out. But, still, the game carried a lot of cachet.

For the Nets, though, the Global Games wasn't much of a game, rather an exhibition, as they ran away with this one in blowing out the Hawks, 127-110.

Brooklyn got off to an early lead, on the backs of Kevin Garnett's mid-range game and Joe Johnson's stretch offense. The Hawks, however, responded with a 6-0 run after the Nets missed a few chips, and took a 16-15 lead midway through the first. It was a bit back-and-forth as both teams traded buckets. Both teams couldn't make stops, and offense took center stage as they finished the first with the Nets leading 31-27. Brooklyn shot 53.8 percent from the floor while the Hawks went for 58.8 percent.

Johnson had 15 first-quarter points, while Pierce was 1-of-7 in the first.

Nets came out firing in the second, with Pierce remaining in the game after having played the entire first to anchor the second unit and with Andray Blatche getting active in the paint. Again, the Nets lack of defense let the Hawks hang around.

Kidd returned a lineup with Kevin Garnett and Andrei Kirilenko as the defensive anchors to get some stops and, well, the team responded, as they often do with that duo playing in the frontcourt. Nets built up an 11-point lead, and with just over five minutes in left in the second had a 51-40 lead.

Nets shot 54.9 percent in the first half, dished out 19 assists and out-rebounded the Hawks 21-13, taking a 65-53 lead into halftime.

Joe Johnson had 26 points in the first half on 10-of-13 shooting, and 5-of-7 from three.

No third quarter struggle for the Nets, as Pierce found his stroke early on and carried the Nets to a 21-point lead, after a 11-2 run to start the quarter. Hawks responded with a a 7-0 run of their own to climb back into it, somewhat, but, still, the Nets offense was about as good as its been all season long, and they built the lead back up to over 20 in the final seconds of the third.

After three, the Nets led the Hawks 99-74. Through three quarters, the Nets starters had scored 80 points on 33-of-54 shooting from the floor and 12-of-18 from three.

Game over, the fourth quarter was merely a formality.

Brooklyn was up by as much as 31 points at one point in the fourth, and finished with a 127-110 victory over the Hawks.

Johnson scored a game-high 29 points on 11-of-15 shooting, while Blatche went for 20 points, 14 rebounds and six assists, Pierce finishing with 18 points.

Kyle Korver did hit a three in the fourth quarter, extending his streak to 108 games. More important for Nets fans, Johnson extended his streak --big games with Brooklyn fan Paul McCartney in the building. After scoring 37 on 10-of-14 shooting from three last month with Sir Paul present, he got that 29 on 6-of-8 today.

For more on the Hawks, Peachtree Hoops

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