Joe Johnson scored a season-high 34 points and Josh Smith had a career-best 29 to lead the Eastern Conference-leading Atlanta Hawks to a 111-102 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Friday night.
Atlanta improved its record to 4-1 to move three games over .500 for the first time in 7½ years. The Hawks have had seven consecutive losing seasons and never recovered last season after starting 0-9.
Zaza Pachulia of the Atlanta Hawks goes inside against Toronto's T.J. Ford.
(Ron Turenne/Getty Images)
But Johnson — who added eight rebounds, five assists and finished 12-for-20 from the field — is off to one of the best starts in the NBA right now.
"This is definitely big for us because last year we got off to such a slow start and that kept us down in the dumps," Johnson said. "This year we came out upbeat."
When Johnson was double-teamed in the second half, he passed the ball to Smith, who scored 20 points after halftime. Smith also had seven rebounds and five assists. His previous career high was 28 points last April 15 at Milwaukee.
"I am real pumped up," Smith said. "My first year we won 13 games, second year 26 games. This year I think we have a team that can try and push to make the playoffs."
Atlanta shot 50 per cent and outrebounded Toronto 49-40.
Chris Bosh had 19 points and 17 rebounds for the Raptors, who dropped to 2-3.
Toronto coach Sam Mitchell suggested he might change the
starting lineup if the Raptors don't improve.
"I'm not contemplating it right now, but we've played five
games and we've had five bad starts, so we got to do something,"
said Mitchell, whose team now heads west for a five-game road trip.
After Toronto's Fred Jones cut the lead to two with a layup with 7:45 left, Johnson and Smith sparked a 17-6 run. Johnson started it with two free throws and Smith followed with a three-pointer.
After Johnson assisted on another three by Smith, Tyronn Lue made a 22-foot jumper to give Atlanta 102-89 lead with 2:37 left.
Johnson and Smith each had nine points as Atlanta outscored Toronto 28-15 in the first quarter. The Hawks shot 57 per cent in the period, compared with 26 per cent for the Raptors.
"Joe came out on mission," Atlanta coach Mike Woodson said. "He had it going early. Josh got it going in the second half so it just made it a double threat."
Toronto's Andrea Bargnani — the No. 1 pick in the draft — had just four points and two rebounds in nine minutes. The Italian forward didn't play in the fourth quarter.
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