Atlanta Hawks Sweep Three-Game Homestand; Maurice Evans MVP

The Atlanta Hawks (19-6) are riding high and are winners of six in-a-row after another comfortable win, this time against the Utah Jazz.

Last night’s 96-83 win over Utah wrapped up the three-game homestand sweep, which began last Sunday with a blowout win over the decimated New Jersey Nets.

Game three against the Jazz last night also came with some exciting news.

The Boston Celtics finally lost. The Philadelphia 76ers’ Elton Brand had a last second tip-in to edge the Celtics in Boston, 98-97.

For the Celtics, it marked the end to their 11-game win streak, and for the Hawks, the loss puts them just a game back of Boston for first place overall in the Eastern Conference.

During the three-game homestand, Maurice Evans played huge for the Hawks. He got his first start of the season against the Nets, filling in for a flu-stricken Marvin Williams.

In his first start of the season, he played the most of any Hawk, 34:03. He was terrific from the floor, shooting 8-of-13 from the field, including a 4-of-4 from the three-pointer. His four threes was a game-high and he also went perfect from the free-throw line while on his way to finishing with a game-high 22 points.

Evans also grabbed nine boards in his best game of the season.

On Wednesday, Williams was back in the lineup, but he only played 17 minutes, giving Evans more playing time.

Evans did not start, but came off of the bench to lead the Hawks bench players with 13 points in 24 minutes of action. He also had five assists.

Last night’s game against the Jazz, Evans only got two points in 24 minutes, but his play in the first two games helped make up for the loss of Williams.

Atlanta’s bench had a key role in the homestand. They had 43 points against the Nets, 42 against the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday, and scored 43 points again last night.

Each game the bench accounted for a higher percentage of Atlanta’s offensive output.

The 43 points against the Nets was good for 33 percent of the Hawks’ total scoring, then the 42 they put up on the Grizzlies was 38 percent of the offense, and last’s 43 points was good for 45 percent of the team’s 96 points.

Joe Johnson also had a good three-game homestand. Johnson, who is averaging 36.6 minutes per game, played 30 minutes in only one of the three games because of the blowout wins. This is good because it allowed Johnson to get some rest before the upcoming road trip.

He played his lowest total of 27:24 in the three games last night against the Jazz. He only had 12 points, but just missed a triple-double with nine rebounds and seven assists.

Against the Nets he finished with 21 points and 10 assists, and 26 points with eight rebounds and three assists in the win over Memphis.

The Hawks begin their four-game road trip today at 8:00 pm ET at Chicago against the Bulls. The road trip goes through the 29th when the Hawks return home to face the Cleveland Cavaliers.