Millsap leads Hawks past Nets 114-86 to snap 2-game skid

ATLANTA (AP) - Paul Millsap scored 21 points and went past 10,000 for his career, leading Atlanta to a dominant second half that carried the Hawks past the Brooklyn Nets 114-86 on Saturday night.

Brooklyn scored the first seven points of the third quarter, tying it at 55. The Hawks pulled away from there, pushing the lead to 84-68 by the end of the period and as many as 33 in the final quarter.

Atlanta stopped a two-game losing streak and reached the midpoint of the season at 24-17. A year ago, the Hawks were 33-8 on the way to claiming the top seed in the Eastern Conference.

Millsap, who has scored at least 18 points in 11 straight games, reached the career milestone on a layup in the second quarter. He really turned it on in the decisive third period, hitting four of five shots - including a 3-pointer.

With both teams playing for the second night in a row and third time in four days, the Hawks were clearly the fresher team down the stretch. Brooklyn was really dragging after Sergey Karasev and Andrea Bargnani left with ankle injuries.

Thaddeus Young's pull-up jumper capped Brooklyn's spurt at the start of the second half, after Joe Johnson knocked down a 3-pointer and scored a driving layup. With the home crowd beginning to get a little restless, Atlanta suddenly turned it on, constantly beating the Nets down the court and shutting down Brooklyn in transition.

Young led the Nets with 18 points. Only two other Brooklyn players were in double figures.

Coming off the bench, Dennis Schroder had 15 points and 10 assists for the Hawks. Kent Bazemore also scored 15, Jeff Teague added 12 and Al Horford chipped in with 10.

The game got so out of hand, Tim Hardaway Jr. was able to get enough playing time to match his season high with eight points, including a thunderous dunk in the closing minutes.

TIP-INS

Nets: Karasev went out in the first quarter with a sprained left ankle. He played only 2:47, scoring two points. ... Bargnani left in the third quarter with a sore right ankle. He had six points in just over 10 minutes of playing time.

Hawks: F Thabo Sefolosha was able to play more than 18 minutes despite a sore wrist that made him questionable until he went through pregame warmups. ... Teague reached 1,000 rebounds in his career.

UP NEXT

Nets: Travel to Toronto to face the Raptors on Monday.

Hawks: Host the Orlando Magic on Monday.

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Follow Paul Newberry on Twitter at www.twitter.com/pnewberry1963 . His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/paul-newberry .