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Hawks carry momentum into Washington

Nov 30, 2013 - 3:49 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The Atlanta Hawks staged a furious rally to halt a three-game slide and look to carry the momentum into Saturday's road matchup with the Southeast Division-rival Washington Wizards.

In Friday's 88-87 victory over the Dallas Mavericks, Hawks forward Al Horford buried a jumper from the top of the key with 4.2 seconds remaining and capped a 17-point turnaround in the second half. Horford had 17 points and 12 rebounds for Atlanta, which outscored the Mavs, 24-12, in the fourth quarter.

The Hawks were down by as many as 13 (70-57) in the fourth quarter, when Hawks guard Jeff Teague scored 15 of his game-high 25 points. Paul Millsap scored 15 points and Lou Williams 12 in a winning cause.

"It was a much-needed win for us, just excited to be on the winning end tonight," Horford said. "The energy started to shift, the crowd really started getting into it. I felt when we picked up our intensity, everything changed."

Atlanta outscored Dallas 46-16 in the paint and had 20 points off 18 Dallas turnovers. The Hawks played without 3-point specialist Kyle Korver because of bruised ribs and he can match Dana Barros' NBA record for most consecutive games with a made 3-pointer if he plays Saturday. Korver stands at 88 straight.

The Hawks will visit San Antonio on this brief trip and are 4-5 away from home.

Washington will try to get back in the win column when it opens a four-game homestand versus Atlanta.

The Wizards had won three in a row and five of six games until dropping a 93-73 decision at Indiana on Friday night. Marcin Gortat (17 points, 10 rebounds) and Trevor Ariza (14 points) were the only Washington players to score in double figures and John Wall ended with eight points.

Washington managed to score 26 points off 15 Indiana turnovers, but it wasn't enough to keep the winning streak alive against the best team in the East.

"I just feel like we weren't as focused as we needed to be," said Ariza. "That's a good team and you can't do that with good teams."

The Wizards will also host Orlando, Milwaukee and Denver, and are 4-2 at the Verizon Center this season.

Washington lost three of four meetings with Atlanta last season and is only 2-18 in the previous 20 encounters with its division rival. The Hawks have won nine of their last 11 trips to D.C.