/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/10702797/20130330_jla_av3_515.0.jpg)
And a good thing, too, because Jeff Teague was having a "bad Jeff" night, shooting 3 for 15, forcing a lot of things on that end, trail defending Beno Udrih most of the night and making a series of yuck plays.
Larry Drew, having a still banged up Harris available to run things and shiny new rosteree Shevlin Mack on hand to bear the weight of the second ball handler in the backcourt, sat Teague for the fourth quarter.
Harris, meanwhile, picked a good quarter to heat up, scoring 13 of his 17 in the fourth quarter, from a variety of shots across the floor.
Harris also ran the mid-floor pick and roll to perfection to Ivan Johnson, who tied a career high in points with 21 and fed Robby lots of usable lines post-game. Gotta love Ivan. Johnson also added 10 rebounds to help replace the production lost when Al Horford missed his second game with a stomach ailment.
Also unofficially I counted four instances of Johnson scoring the basket while getting fouled. In this season of free throw avoidance for the Hawks, it was a welcomed site being so shorthanded.
The good guys were without the aforementioned Horford, DeShawn Stevenson, Lou Williams, John Jenkins and Zaza Pachulia.
Pachulia met with local media before the gameto announce he is undergoing season-ending surgery. This ends his season with the Hawks, his last under contract, meaning he might have played his last game as a Hawk -- that there wasn't a farewell worthy of Pachulia's contribution to the Hawks should likely make Drew Ditzel (aka Hawksdawgs) a little upset.
Also the team announced that Jenkins was confirmed to have a concussion by Hawks team doctors and will now engage in the NBA's mandatory concussion process, a process which it has been a week or so for other players to clear before returning to action.
The Magic came into the game banged up significantly as well. Jameer Nelson missed the game with a sprained right ankle, Arron Afflalo didn't make the trip to Atlanta with a sore right hamstring, big man Glen Davis is out and Hedo Turkoglu is not with the team for personal reasons.
Since Bullets are gauche these days, lets just do a kind, gentle listing of thoughts, shall we?
Devin Harris is a 71 percent free throw shooter this season and went 5-9.
Josh Smith and Ivan Johnson are both below 60 percent for the season yet combined for a 14-17 night from the line. Huzzah!
Good thing Kyle Korver made a first half three to extend his streak to 67 games, because Larry Drew wanted no part of Korver trying to cover Mo Harkless. Korver only lasted 18+ minutes due to the Magic not putting a lineup out there that supported having Korver on the floor as well. Was a shame, too, because Kyle picked up a quick six rebounds out there.
Ivan Johnson smiled on the court. Twice. Once was when he ate up Kyle O'Quinn on a lane slam and the other was when he made the bucket to tie his career high. Both times Johnson broke character it was because of something Josh Smith had said. Robby has not dug this information up as yet.
Josh definitely made more of an effort to go to the rim, though some later games dalliances with the long jump shot emerged. After going 6-23, Josh bounced back with a 7-14, 21 point, nine rebound, three block night.
Josh also locked down recently hot Tobias Harris, sticking him with a 5-18 night while Smith showed strong vertical defensive fundamentals when Harris drove to the basket.
Mike Scott, you're 19 points last night in Boston was nice. Now, play 37 seconds against the Magic.
Larry Drew picked up his fourth technical foul of the season. Go ahead, pause, I know you are surprised it's that many.
The Hawks passed the Chicago Bulls for the fifth seed, 41 wins with eight games to go.