Bobcats blow out Hawks, again

On Friday at Philips Arena, the Bobcats toppled Atlanta, 96-75, behind a 22 points, 13 rebound performance from Emeka Okafor. Charlotte won both contests against the Hawks by a combined 40 points.

On Saturday, Okafor posted 19 points, seven rebounds and four blocks and Jeff McInnis contributed 17 points and nine assists for the Bobcats, who have won five of their last seven contests.

Rookie Adam Morrison scored 18 points off the bench while Gerald Wallace added 12 for Charlotte.

Joe Johnson scored 22 points and Marvin Williams had 20 for the Hawks, who had a three-game winning streak before running into trouble against the Bobcats.

Atlanta forward Josh Smith was whistled for back-to-back technical fouls for arguing with the referees in the second quarter and was ejected from the game. On his way to the locker room, the three-year veteran flipped off the Charlotte crowd.

Led by nine points from Carroll, the Bobcats led 25-20 after the opening 12 minutes.

Smith was then ejected with 4:15 left in the second and the ensuing Carroll free throws coupled with an Okafor hook shot gave Charlotte its largest lead of the first half at 43-30 with 3:28 remaining.

Atlanta, however, responded with a 13-4 run, capped by five straight points by Josh Childress that brought the Hawks within 47-43 with 24 seconds left. McInnis converted 1-of-2 free throws with a second left to give Charlotte a 48-43 advantage at halftime.

The Hawks pulled within a basket in the third and trailed 66-62 with 3:50 left in the quarter before Charlotte rolled off a 9-2 spurt and led 75-65 heading into the fourth.

Childress’ layup to start the final quarter brought Atlanta within eight, but that was the closest the Hawks would get as the Bobcats outscored Atlanta 29-20 in the quarter to coast to the easy win.

Game Notes

Childress finished with 18 points off the bench for the Hawks...Charlotte shot a blistering 64.6 percent from the floor...Atlanta shot 50.8 percent.