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Horford, Hawks down injury-riddled Wolves

Jan 21, 2013 - 10:52 PM Atlanta, GA (Sports Network) - The Atlanta Hawks picked up their energy just in time against the injury-depleted Minnesota Timberwolves.

Al Horford tallied 28 points and 10 rebounds in the Hawks' 104-96 victory over the Wolves.

Jannero Pargo added 16 points for Atlanta, which had lost eight of its last 10 games coming in.

"Coach got after us pretty good," Horford said of Larry Drew's reaction at halftime when the Hawks trailed 58-44. "He told us he expected better from us and frankly I did as well. I thought we needed to be better in the second half."

The Hawks shot a sizzling 57.7 percent (41-of-71) from the floor, but turned the ball over 22 times, which led to 26 Minnesota points.

Derrick Williams netted 17 points to lead the Timberwolves, who have dropped six of their last seven contests.

Minnesota was without Kevin Love (hand), Nikola Pekovic (bruised right quad) and Alexey Shved (ankle), all double-digit scorers, and head coach Rick Adelman, who is tending to his hospitalized wife.

The Timberwolves built an 18-point second-quarter advantage, but found themselves trailing with 4:32 left in the fourth following a 14-4 Atlanta run.

A Pargo 3-pointer lifted the Hawks to a 92-89 edge with 5:26 left, giving the hosts their first lead since the 8:53 mark of the opening frame. Smith capped the run with a layup for a 94-89 margin after Horford stole the ball from Andrei Kirilenko.

A bit later, Kirilenko's three-point play pulled the visitors within one, 94-93, with 3:43 to go, but seven consecutive Atlanta points put the game away.

Pargo hit a trey, Jeff Teague sunk a pair of flagrant free throws and Horford's dunk made it 101-93 in favor of Atlanta with 2:56 left.

Earlier, Minnesota led by as many as 15 in the first stanza before taking a 31-18 margin into the second. The Wolves' advantage reached its apex at 52-34 with 4:49 left in the second before they took a 58-44 cushion into the break.

"I thought we came out with good energy, good activity in the first half," Wolves interim head coach Terry Porter said. "In the second half, the two key areas for us was turnovers and transition defense."

Minnesota went into the fourth with a 77-70 edge.

Game Notes

Minnesota gave the ball away 20 times, which led to 26 Atlanta points ... The Hawks held a 50-34 points in the paint advantage ... Atlanta has a 10-game home winning streak against the Timberwolves.