The Atlanta Hawks had something to prove after an embarrassing home loss.
They had no trouble making their point at home against the hapless Washington Wizards last night.
Joe Johnson scored 22 points and the Hawks (30-21) led from start to finish, erasing the memory of a dismal blowout by the Los Angeles Clippers with a 111-90 rout of the undermanned Wizards (11-41).
Atlanta raced to a 9-1 lead before most of the sparse crowd had even settled into its seats. The Hawks pushed the margin as high as 22 points in the second quarter against an injury-marred team that has managed the modest feat of back-to-back wins only once this season.
"That was a total team effort," said Hawks coach Mike Woodson, in a much better mood than three nights earlier. "The starters did what they're supposed to do and the guys off the bench were very good."
The Wizards missed their first seven shots and never seriously challenged the Hawks, who clearly had something to prove after a 121-97 loss to the Clippers over the weekend.
"That was definitely on our minds," forward Josh Smith said. "We wanted to bounce back tonight, and we did."
After Woodson called out his team for not showing up against the Clippers, Atlanta played with much more passion. Of course, it also helped to have point guard Mike Bibby back in the lineup.
Pacers 96, Cavaliers 95:: LeBron James scored 47, but his foul with 0.2 of a second left allowed Danny Granger to make the winning free throw, giving host Indiana (21-32) a victory over Cleveland (39-11).
Spurs 108, Nets 93:: Tim Duncan had 27 points, nine rebounds and eight assists and visiting San Antonio (35-15) defeated New Jersey (24-29) for the 13th straight time.
Bulls 107, Pistons 102:: Ben Gordon converted the go-ahead four-point play, Derrick Rose and Tyrus Thomas made strong contributions late, and host Chicago (23-29) rallied to beat Detroit (27-23).
Nuggets 99, Heat 82: : Chauncey Billups scored 13 of his 23 in the fourth quarter, Carmelo Anthony (Towson Catholic) finished with 19 points and nine rebounds, and visiting Denver (35-17) swept the series with Miami (27-24) for the fourth straight year.
Raptors 110, Timberwolves 102:: Jason Kapono scored 18 on 7-for-10 shooting to rally visiting Toronto (20-34) over Minnesota (17-34).
Mavericks 118, Kings 100:: Josh Howard and Antoine Wright both had 23 points, Dirk Nowitzki had 21 and J.J. Barea had 10 as the primary fill-in for sixth-man standout Jason Terry as host Dallas (31-20) beat Sacramento (42-11).