Joe Johnson scored a season-high 41 points to lead the surging Atlanta Hawks to a 129-117 victory over the Chicago Bulls on Saturday. Johnson also had eight assists for Atlanta, who claimed their fourth successive win with a sixth home victory in seven games.
"When you can just come down and pull three-pointers, those games are fun," Johnson, who sank four shots from outside the arc, told reporters. "It always feels a little better when you win and hopefully we can get a few more like that." Josh Smith added a season-best 24 points, seven rebounds and five assists for the Hawks (19-10), who complete an eight-game homestand against Denver on Monday.
Mike Bibby (17 points, seven assists) and Marvin Williams (16 points, eight rebounds) also had key performances for the Hawks. "This was just one of those offensive explosions we had tonight," Hawks coach Mike Woodson said. "Everybody was clicking on all cylinders. "It was just an offensive performance on both sides. But in the fourth quarter, we held them to 22 points, so our defence did pick up when we really had to buckle down."
Ben Gordon and Derrick Rose carried the scoring load for the Bulls (13-17), who lost their seventh consecutive road game. Gordon scored 33 points and Rose contributed a season-high 27.