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The Atlanta Hawks increased their winning streak to six games with a 94-91 win over the Charlotte Bobcats Wednesday night at Philips Arena. Atlanta overcame a big fourth quarter rally from Charlotte's Ben Gordon who scored 20 of his game-high 26 in the game's final period.
The Hawks led by seven points with just 2:43 remaining but had to hang on at the end to secure a victory. Charlotte cut the lead to just one point at 92-91 as Ben Gordon made heavily contested three with just 29 seconds remaining. Atlanta's next possession ended with a long three-point attempt that caromed out of bounds and set the Bobcats up with the ball and 5.2 seconds to work with trailing by one.
Charlotte tried to inbound the ball to Ben Gordon but Josh Smith made a heady play by contesting the pass which bounced out of bounds for a turnover giving Atlanta back the ball. Al Horford extended the lead to 94-91 with a pair of free throws and the Hawks did a great job of denying the ball to Gordon on the final possession which forced Byron Mullens into an unsuccessful desperation attempt at the final buzzer.
Josh Smith bounced back from a subpar first half scoring 13 of his 17 total points in the second half. Smith also led the team with 13 rebounds and tied for the team lead in assists with six. Al Horford added 17 points, 11 boards and also finished with six assists. Lou Williams scored 17 off the bench for the Hawks and chipped in five assists. Jeff Teague finished with 11 points and five assists.
Gordon's 26 led all scorers and Ramon Sessions added 18 points also off the bench for the Bobcats. Kemba Walker finished with 15 points but was just 4-15 from the field. Mullens finished with 10 points and nine rebounds.
The Hawks improve to 9-4 on the season and will go for their seventh straight win on Friday when they host the Cleveland Cavaliers at Philips Arena.
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