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Johnson's free throws get Hawks past Kings

Jan 18, 2011 - 3:02 AM Atlanta, GA (Sports Network) - Joe Johnson hit a pair of free throws with 0.6 seconds remaining and finished with 36 points, as the Atlanta Hawks earned a hard-fought 100-98 win over the Sacramento Kings at Philips Arena.

Tied at 96-all with 36.7 seconds left in the fourth, Johnson's nifty reverse layup was matched by Tyreke Evans' lay-in that tied things at 98-98 and 11.6 seconds to play.

Out of an Atlanta timeout, Johnson controlled the ball, made his move to the basket and was fouled by Evans with under a second left. Johnson calmly made both free throws to give the Hawks the two-point advantage.

After Sacramento called a timeout, rookie DeMarcus Cousins inbounded the ball on the far sideline, but threw the pass out of bounds without being touched. Atlanta killed off the remaining time to secure the win.

Al Horford turned in a huge game with 23 points, nine rebounds, a career-high seven blocks and six assists, while Josh Smith had 19 points and 10 boards for Atlanta, which has won six of its last seven.

"Defensively for the first three quarters our energy and effort were none existent," Johnson said. "I told our guys we have to get some stops if we plan on winning this game. We got stops and easy baskets and were able to pull it out."

Cousins had a team-leading 20 points to go with eight rebounds for the Kings, who have lost two in a row and five of their last six. Beno Udrih and Evans went for 17 and 16 points, respectively, in defeat.

"We played really hard and really well," Sacramento head coach Paul Westphal said. "We just came up short. I'm proud of the effort our guys gave. We have to keep giving that effort."

Sacramento jumped out to a 32-27 lead after the opening quarter and played the front-runner for the entire second, taking a 62-53 lead into the locker room.

A pair of baskets by Jason Thompson sandwiched around Udrih's layup finished out the third quarter and gave the Kings an 82-73 cushion after three.

Trailing by six with just under nine minutes to play, Atlanta finally woke up, running off 13 straight points.

Johnson got things started with runner, then after Smith finished off a fastbreak with a layup. Johnson hit a fadeway jumper to even things at 86-all with 7:05 remaining.

Horford's make put the Hawks in front and Smith's alley-oop dunk on a perfect feed from Mike Bibby put Atlanta up 93-86 with 4:41 to go.

Smith drained a three to keep the hosts up by six with just over three minutes left. Carl Landry then bookended six straight Kings points with a turnaround jumper and a layup to even the contest at 96-96 with only 36.7 seconds remaining.

Game Notes

The Hawks swept the home-and-home sweep series for a third consecutive season and have won seven straight over the Kings...Bibby ended with 11 points for Atlanta, which shot 47 percent from the field and 5-of-20 from three-point territory...Donte Greene had 11 rebounds to go with seven points for Sacramento, which made 44.6 percent of its shots, but only 1-of-9 from beyond the arc.