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Lue's big fourth quarter leads Hawks to win

Apr 11, 2007 - 5:09 AM ATLANTA (Ticker) -- The Atlanta Hawks leaned on a healthy Tyronn Lue to help offset a slew of injuries and a career night from Gerald Green.

Lue scored 26 points as the Atlanta Hawks posted a 104-96 win over the Boston Celtics.

The nine-year veteran, who returned to action on March 2 after being sidelined for 27 games with groin and hamstring injuries, scored 13 points in the fourth quarter on 5-of-5 shooting.

Marvin Williams added 21 for the Hawks, who had lost eight of nine and were missing their top three scorers due to injury.

"Lue's starting to move like the Lue of old," Hawks coach Mike Woodson said. "He's getting his legs under him after the injuries. It's nice to see him move like that."

"It's definitely been difficult being hurt all season," Lue said. "It (stinks), we have (a few) games left and now I'm healthy."

Green carried the load for the Celtics, who lost their fourth game in a row and were also without their top three scorers. Paul Pierce, Al Jefferson and Wally Sczcerbiak all sat out the game with injuries.

The league's slam dunk champion scored a career-high 33 points on 12-of-22 shooting from the floor, including 4-of-5 from the arc for Boston.

"It doesn't really matter to me," Green said. "We still lost. At the end of the day I'm a ballplayer and I'm trying to win ball games."

Atlanta was playing without starters Joe Johnson, Josh Childress, Speedy Claxton and the suspended Josh Smith.

Smith served the first game of his two-game suspension for getting in a verbal altercation with Woodson in Sunday's overtime loss to Philadelphia. He was sent to the locker room at the end of regulation.

However, a healthy Lue proved to be all the Hawks needed to hold off the equally shorthanded Celtics, who only had eight players available.

Lue had 10 points during a 15-4 spurt that gave Atlanta 97-90 lead with 3:50 to play and they never looked back.

"That game just got away from us," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "Lue made some big shots."

Green scored 20 of his 33 in the first half, including eight in a 21-8 run that saw Boston take a 49-36 lead early in the second en route to a 59-51 lead at the break.

In a game that featured nine lead change and seven ties, the Celtics trailed by just two at 78-76 after three periods.

However, in the fourth the second-year pro stopped going to the basket and settled for jump shots. The result was a 1-of-6 shooting performance in the fourth for Green when the Hawks were on their decisive run.

"We got something out of this but obviously we didn't get a win out of it," Rivers said. "We were trying to get something out of Green.

"We basically made him our go-to guy tonight. He did some good things but I think down the stretch he settled for jumpers. What I told him at the end of the game is to get to the foul line. Don't just settle for jumpers. That was the lesson of the game for us."

Green acknowledged he should have been more aggressive in the fourth.

"I made a couple of good moves and made some plays but down the stretch I was settling for jumpers," Green said. "Doc told me that I'm too good of a player to settle for jump shots. The biggest thing is to just be patient and take my time."

The Hawks won their second straight home game and took three of the four meeting from the Celtics.

Boston fell to just 3-27 without Pierce in the lineup.