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Smith leads Hawks in 127-122 win over Warriors

Mar 6, 2010 - 4:35 AM ATLANTA(AP) -- With leading scorer Joe Johnson playing despite flulike symptoms, the Atlanta Hawks needed someone else to come up big.

Turns out, four players did: Josh Smith, Al Horford, Mike Bibby and Jamal Crawford.

Smith scored a season-high 29 points and Horford added 27 points and 15 rebounds as the surging Hawks held off the Golden State Warriors 127-122 on Friday night.

Atlanta, which has won four straight and six of seven, improved to 25-7 at home. The Hawks had six players in double figures, including Bibby, who had a season-high 23 points, and Crawford, who scored 12 of his 14 in the final quarter.

"That was really big, the way we took up the slack for Johnson. He was under the weather. We wanted to pick him up," Smith said.

Johnson, averaging 21.7 points per game, played 37 minutes. He shot 0 for 6 in the first half and finished 3 of 14 from the field, scoring 10 points to go with eight assists.

"He was fighting the flu. He wasn't feeling well. It was important we all came out and gave him support," Horford said.

Crawford, Atlanta's sixth man, is the Hawks' second-leading scorer at 17.3 points per game. He also had a poor first half, going 0 for 5 and missing two free throws.

"We were tied at halftime and neither of our big guns had done anything," Atlanta coach Mike Woodson said. "Jamal stepped his game up."

Stephen Curry led the Warriors, who lost their third in a row and fifth in six games, with 31 points and 11 assists. Golden State dropped its ninth consecutive road game and fell to 4-26 away from home.

Anthony Morrow had 21 points for the Warriors. C.J. Watson and Anthony Tolliver each scored 20, and Corey Maggette added 18.

"My shot was falling in the second quarter and we went on a little run," Curry said. "We stayed in the game as long as we could, we just couldn't get enough stops down the stretch."

Bibby finished with seven 3s, a season best and two shy of his career high.

"It was going in. I'll just take the good with the bad. I just shot the ball," said Bibby, who averages 8.7 points a game and hadn't scored more than 17 since Jan. 8 in a 93-85 win over Boston.

"We had a chance and we needed to make a couple of shots down the stretch. We didn't do that and the Hawks made their free throws," Golden State coach Don Nelson said. "No complaints. We played at a high level and we lost."

Golden State got within 119-118 on a three-point play by Curry with 49.6 seconds left, but the Hawks went 8 for 8 at the free throw line down the stretch to clinch the win. Horford, Smith, Crawford and Marvin Williams, who had 12 points and 14 rebounds, each hit a pair of free throws.

The Hawks led 92-88 after three quarters and built their biggest lead to 102-91 with 9:45 left on a 3-pointer by Crawford.

Golden State, however, went on an 11-2 run, with Tolliver making a pair of 3s, to get within 104-102 with 6:56 left.

It was 63-all at halftime. Smith had 18 points and Bibby 14 on 5-of-5 shooting, including 4 of 4 on 3s, for the Hawks. Golden State was led by Curry with 20 points, including 4-of-4 shooting on 3s. Watson added 12 points, hitting all 10 of his free throws.

The Hawks' biggest lead of the first half was 18-10 with 7:25 remaining in the opening quarter after a basket by Williams. Golden State tied it at 35 after one and surged ahead in the second quarter.

NOTES: Maggette returned after missing five straight games with a strained left hamstring, giving the Warriors nine healthy players. ... Curry, one of the leading contenders for Rookie of the Year, struggled in Wednesday's 117-90 loss at Orlando. He had nine points and seven assists.