• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Hawks and Spurs square off in San Antonio

Jan 25, 2012 - 3:49 PM (Sports Network) - San Antonio has been nearly unstoppable at home and hopes to continue that trend tonight when the Atlanta Hawks visit the Alamo City.

The Spurs had won their first nine games at home until dropping an 88-86 decision to Sacramento last Friday. They then hit the road for back-to-back games against the Rockets and Hornets, and squeezed past New Orleans with a 104-102 victory Monday night thanks to veteran Tim Duncan's running hook shot at the foul line with 1.4 seconds remaining in the game.

"It was a mix of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson, a kind of sky-hook and we'll take it," said Tony Parker, who scored 20 points to go with a career- high 17 assists for the Spurs.

Duncan missed Saturday's loss at Houston to rest and finished with 28 points and seven rebounds for the Spurs, who won for just the second time in five tries and upped their weary road record to 2-6. Richard Jefferson scored 14 points to help end a two-game skid.

After this evening's home bout with Atlanta the Spurs will return to the road for three games at Minnesota, Dallas and Memphis. San Antonio announced this week that the team will retire Bruce Bowen's No. 12 jersey on Wednesday, March 21, when the Spurs host Minnesota. Bowen, a defensive stalwart, will join James Silas (No. 13), George Gervin (No. 44), Johnny Moore (No. 00), David Robinson (No. 50), Sean Elliott (No. 32) and Avery Johnson (No. 6) as the only players to have their numbers retired by the franchise.

"Bruce Bowen was the premier perimeter defender in the NBA for close to a decade," Spurs Head Coach Gregg Popovich told the team's website. "His success is proof that hard work and determination do, in fact, pay off. Statistics are meaningless when talking about his importance to this franchise. The simple fact is the Spurs don't win NBA Championships in 2003, 2005 and 2007 without Bruce Bowen."

The Hawks are making a case for Southeast Division bragging rights and will shoot for their 14th win of the season Wednesday at the AT&T Center. They are 13-5 through 18 games and have won two straight and nine of their last 11 contests, including Monday's 97-92 victory at Milwaukee in the opener of a five-game road trip.

Joe Johnson scored 24 of his 28 points in the second half and Josh Smith sank a big three-pointer with 41.9 seconds remaining to lead Atlanta, which improved to 5-4 on the road as opposed to its 8-1 home record.

"Joe is as good as they are offensively when he gets into a rhythm," said Hawks head coach Larry Drew. "He's a guy in those situations who we know we can really play off of him because he will not only make the shots, but he'll make the right play when he's double-teamed."

The Hawks outscored the Bucks, 18-9, over the last 3:30 of the game and got 19 points and 13 rebounds out of Smith. Jeff Teague collected 15 points, six rebounds and five assists for Atlanta, which got nine points and a game-best 14 rebounds from Zaza Pachulia. Smith is averaging 19.1 ppg over the last 11 games and Johnson has scored 20-plus points in six of his last seven contests, averaging 22.9 ppg in that stretch.

Johnson needs 179 points to reach 10,000 points in a Hawks uniform and is 28 points shy of 14,000 in his career.

On the injury front for the Hawks, guard Kirk Hinrich could make his season debut Wednesday after undergoing offseason shoulder surgery. Hinrich averaged 8.6 points and 3.3 assists in 24 games for the Hawks a year ago. The Hawks will also visit the Pistons, Hornets and Raptors on the road swing.

The Hawks lost both meetings with San Antonio a season ago and are only 4-21 in the past 25 matchups between the two clubs. Atlanta has lost 13 straight and 16 of its last 17 at San Antonio.