(Sports Network) - The Atlanta Hawks got a much-needed victory Monday
afternoon and will try to continue the momentum Wednesday night when they
visit the Charlotte Bobcats to close out their season series.
The Hawks have won all three matchups with their Southeast Division rival.
Atlanta has held the Bobcats under 91 points in all three contests and seeing
Charlotte on the schedule should help the Hawks.
The month of January hasn't been kind to the Hawks. They are 4-8 since New
Year's Day and things didn't get any easier when key reserve guard Lou
Williams went down for the season on Friday with an ACL tear.
The team signed Jannero Pargo to a 10-day contract Monday morning and it paid
off Monday afternoon. Pargo scored 16 points with 14 in the final quarter as
he keyed the come-from-behind, 104-96 win against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
"I take my hat off to Jannero Pargo," Hawks head coach Larry Drew said Monday.
"He passed the test. I did not intend to play him that many minutes tonight,
but he got into a groove and got into a rhythm."
Pargo played 50 games for the Hawks last season and logged over 25 minutes
Monday afternoon.
"This is a great team all-around, a lot of guys who can do a lot of things,"
said Pargo. "I don't feel any pressure coming in to have to score the ball or
do anything spectacular right away."
Al Horford scored 28 points and pulled down 10 rebounds for the Hawks. Josh
Smith, Kyle Korver and Mike Scott all scored in double figures and Jeff Teague
handed out 10 assists.
The Bobcats lost their second game in a row on Monday, despite a Herculean
effort from guard Kemba Walker. The second-year man from Connecticut scored a
career-high 35 points in a 100-94 loss to the Houston Rockets.
"It's tough man. We're trying our hardest to win these games, but you know
it's just not working out for us right now," said Walker. "We still have so
much basketball left so hopefully things are going to start looking out for us
and I think they will."
That may be overly optimistic.
The Bobcats have lost 15 in a row inside Time Warner Cable Arena and are 5-17
at home this season. That represents the second-fewest home victories in the
Eastern Conference behind only the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Charlotte will welcome the Minnesota Timberwolves to town on Saturday night,
then embark on a tough five-game road trip where they'll face the Bulls,
Spurs, Rockets, Heat and those same Cavs.
The Bobcats have only beaten the Hawks five times since the 2008-09 season.
The Sports Network