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Hawks clobber Suns

Apr 8, 2015 - 3:55 AM Atlanta, GA (SportsNetwork.com) - DeMarre Carroll, Mike Muscala and Jeff Teague all netted 16 points as the Atlanta Hawks ran the Phoenix Suns out of Philips Arena Tuesday night in a 96-69 win.

Muscala grabbed seven rebounds and notched four steals for the Hawks, who have won five of their last seven games. Al Horford added 14 points and five boards and Kent Bazemore pulled down a team-best nine rebounds in the win.

The hosts had already secured home-court advantage in the Eastern Conference prior to Tuesday's clash. The win over Phoenix was the team's 58th -- a franchise record for a single season.

"To have the most wins in franchise history, it's important to take a moment and recognize the work of our players and the organization and everybody in it," Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said after the game. "And the city's been amazing."

Gerald Green netted 15 points off the bench to pace Phoenix, which has lost six of its last seven games. Eric Bledsoe chipped in nine points and five assists, but turned the ball over five times before he was ejected in the third quarter following two technical fouls.

Phoenix entered the contest three games back of Oklahoma City for eighth place in the Western Conference and 2 1/2 games behind New Orleans.

Carroll got the Hawks off to a hot start in the first quarter, as the forward connected on 5-of-5 shooting from the floor for 10 points to lead the charge. Atlanta was able to grab a 24-17 advantage at the end of the period.

An early 6-0 run for the hosts gave them an 8-2 advantage, and they never looked back.

Bledsoe buried a jumper with under a second to play in the second quarter to cut Atlanta's lead to 52-43, which the Hawks took into the midway break.

"It's always tough when your leader goes out," Suns forward Brandan Wright said about Bledsoe's ejection. "He plays a lot of minutes, he does a lot for us. When we lose him, we lose a lot."

Phoenix shot just 39.5 percent from the floor in the first half. The Hawks converted 54.8 percent of their attempts in the opening two periods.

The Suns started the second half on a mini 4-1 run to cut the Hawks' advantage to six points at 53-47, but Atlanta turned the tables and rolled out a 10-0 run to go back up by double digits.

Atlanta started the fourth on a 10-3 run to take a 79-59 lead before the Suns called a timeout. It didn't help, as the Hawks extended their lead to 90-61 with 5:40 to play after the team stretched its run to 21-5.

The Suns were once again without Brandon Knight and Alex Len, who are out with injuries.

Game Notes

Hawks All-Star forward Paul Millsap missed Tuesday's game with a sprained right shoulder and will miss Wednesday's game versus Brooklyn as well. Millsap leads the team with 16.8 points and 7.8 rebounds per game ... Atlanta finished the game shooting 49.4 percent from the field and held Phoenix to a mere 31.3 percent on its shots ... The Suns ranked second in the NBA in fast-break scoring (18.6 ppg) entering the contest, but were held to six in the category.