The Atlanta Hawks (60 - 22) defeated the Brooklyn Nets (38 - 44) 96 - 91 to take a 20 lead in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs on Wednesday. Al Horford had a big game and led his team with 13 rebounds, seven assists and two blocks to go along with 14 points. He was n't the only one showing off his passing skills, as he was one of four Hawk's players to record five or more assists on the night. Paul Millsap and Kyle Korver combined for 36 points to fortify the Atlanta scoring attack, and also hit seven three - pointers. Dennis Schroder had a solid performance off the bench, he had 12 points, six assists and two steals in 19 minutes. He's now averaging 13 points, 4 assists and 2 steals in the series. The Hawks will try and take a 30 lead when they take on the Nets in game three on Saturday. The Nets nearly came back from a 10 - point, fourth quarter deficit, but could n't quite get over the hump as the Hawks were able to knock down four of their final six free throws with under :30 remaining. Brooklyn had a hard time staying hot on offense as Thaddeus Young and Deron Williams each went 1 - for - 7 from the field for a combined four points. Joe Johnson, Brook Lopez and Jarrett Jack were forced to carry the scoring load. They combined for 62 points but Brooklyn still fell short of tying up the series at one game a piece. The Nets will try and take game three against the Hawks in Brooklyn on Saturday.
["TeamStat(G,'Hawks') has 96 Total points ."
 "TeamStat(G,'Nets') has 91 Total points ,has 20 Points in 3rd quarter ."]