The Atlanta Hawks (8 - 2) defeated the New Orleans Pelicans (1 - 7) 106 - 98 on Wednesday at Philips Arena in Atlanta. The Hawks got off to a slow start in this one, falling behind nine points by the end of the first half. They had some fight left in them, though, exploding out in the second half, where they out - scored the Pelicans 59 - 42 the rest of the game to seal the eight - point victory in front of their home crowd. Despite shooting lower percentages from the field, the Hawks made up for it on the defensive side of the ball, forcing the Pelicans into 19 turnovers as a team. The Hawks' frontcourt duo of Al Horford and Paul Millsap did the majority of the damage to the injury - plagued Pelicans. Without Anthony Davis defending in the post, they were able to take the advantage down low. Horford was the main beneficiary and went an efficient 11 - for - 15 from the field and 4 - for - 6 from the three - point line for a game - high of 26 points, while also adding eight rebounds and three blocked shots. Horford shot below 40 percent in each of his last two games, so Wednesday's showing was a nice bounce - back effort for the center. Millsap, on the other hand, posted an impressive 19 - point (6 - 14 FG, 0 - 2 3Pt, 7 - 8 FT), 16 - rebound double - double of his own. It marked his fourth double - double of the season, pushing his season averages to 17 points and 9 rebounds per game. Jeff Teague chipped in with 14 points (6 - 16 FG, 1 - 2 3Pt, 1 - 2 FT) and 10 assists as well. Davis (hip), Jrue Holiday (lower leg) and Tyreke Evans (knee) all remained sidelined Wednesday. Without Davis' normal production, both Ish Smith and Eric Gordon took it on themselves to make up for his absence. Gordon went 10 - for - 20 from the field and 4 - for - 6 from the three - point line for 26 points in 31 minutes. The points were a new season - high for the seventh - year guard out of Indiana, who's now surpassed the 20 - point plateau in four of his last five games. Smith finished with 18 points (8 - 17 FG, 2 - 4 3Pt) and 10 assists over 39 minutes. He had 16 of those 18 points in the first half, but really cooled down in the second, letting Gordon take over for the most part. Filling in for Davis at power forward, Ryan Andersen added a productive 17 points (7 - 16 FG, 2 - 5 3Pt, 1 - 1 FT) and 11 rebounds. The Pelicans' next game will be on the road against the Toronto Raptors on Friday, while the Hawks will travel to Boston to take on the Celtics on Friday.
["TeamStat(G,'Hawks') has 2 Losses ,has 106 Total points ,has 8 Turnovers ."
 "TeamStat(G,'Pelicans') has 7 Losses ,has 98 Total points ,has 19 Turnovers ,has 1 Wins ."]