• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Hawks take down Grizzlies

Dec 9, 2012 - 7:44 AM Memphis, TN (Sports Network) - Lou Williams scored 13 of his 21 points in the decisive third quarter to lead the Atlanta Hawks past the Memphis Grizzlies, 93-83, at FedExForum.

Josh Smith paced Atlanta with 24 points, while Al Horford added 19 points and a game-high 14 rebounds for the Hawks, who won their third straight game and nine of their last 10 overall.

"It was looking like another night where I wasn't going to impact the game," said Williams. "I just went out with a blaze and it worked out in my favor."

Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol led the way for Memphis with 18 points apiece, with Randolph adding 13 rebounds.

Rudy Gay contributed 17 points and nine boards, and Mike Conley finished with 12 points as the Grizzlies had their 13-game win streak against the Eastern Conference snapped.

"It was a lot of factors tonight. We played tired, we thought tired and we only had 15 assists. We didn't share the basketball. We didn't shoot it well or shoot free throws well," Memphis coach Lionel Hollins said. "We looked like a team that was tired."

Memphis held a 47-41 lead entering the third quarter and pushed its advantage up to eight points on two separate occasions before Atlanta reeled off eight straight points to knot the game at 51-51.

Tony Allen put a stop to the push with a jumper to spark a 7-2 swing to put the Grizzlies back on top, 58-53, but Gasol's run-capping layup was the last basket Memphis would score for nearly five minutes as the Hawks scored the next 20 points to go ahead, 58-73.

Darrell Arthur's jumper snapped the drought and made it a 73-60 game heading into the fourth quarter, where an early 9-0 push would close Memphis' gap to 75-69 with just under eight minutes left in the game.

Atlanta, however, responded with a 12-6 run to regain a double-digit lead, 87-75, with three minutes to play and was able to hold at least an eight-point lead for the remainder of the game.

Memphis carried a 22-21 edge into the second quarter after a back-and-forth first that saw five lead changes and five ties, and was able to maintain that lead throughout the second thanks to a 50 percent shooting performance in the frame.

Atlanta was able to get within one point early in the second when a Williams' jumper made it a 24-23 game, but Wayne Ellington responded with a 3-pointer at the other end that was followed by a Arthur field goal to give the Grizzlies a six-point cushion.

The Hawks would later push their lead up to 40-32 on a Randolph layup with a little over four minutes remaining in the frame before the Hawks responded with a 9-4 push to close their gap to 44-41.

Memphis, however, would score the final three points of the half and carried a 47-41 edge into the break.

Game Notes

The Grizzlies last lost to a member of the Eastern Conference on March 16 of last season ... Gay stretched his career-best streak of scoring at least 14 points in a game to 21 games ... Memphis fell to 9-2 at home ... Hawks guard Kyle Korver missed his fourth straight game due to back problems.