Suns surge in 4th to top Hawks
PHOENIX -- Leandro Barbosa scored all eight of his points early in the fourth quarter when the Phoenix Suns took the lead for good and went on to beat the slumping Atlanta Hawks 109-107 on Wednesday.
Brandon Knight had 14 of his 23 points in the first quarter and P.J Tucker and Jared Dudley added 17 each for the Suns (6-13), who won for the second time in the last six games. They have beaten the Hawks five of the last six times in Phoenix.
Barbosa had missed his last 11 shots over the 11 quarters before his layup with 9:48 left to play gave the Suns a 81-79 lead. He added three more baskets during a 10-0 run that increased the Phoenix lead to 94-84 and Phoenix never trailed again.
Dennis Schroder had 31 points for the Hawks (10-9) who have lost seven of the last eight after a 9-2 start. Kent Bazemore had 22 points and Tim Hardaway Jr. had 21 for Atlanta, who played without leading scorer Paul Millsap (hip) and committed 20 turnovers including six by Dwight Howard.
Howard finished with 17 points and a game-high 14 rebounds.
Atlanta got within a point twice down the stretch, the last time on two Bazemore free throws with 2:14 left. But Tyson Chandler had a tip-in and Devin Booker hit a step-back 21-footer to make it 102-97 with 1:25 to go.
The Hawks fell behind 9-2 to open the game before answering with a 16-4 run with a Schroder jumper giving Atlanta an 18-13 lead with 6:22 left.
But the Phoenix bench flipped the game back in Arizona's favor. Knight had 14 points in the final five minutes of the quarter and the Suns outscored Atlanta 20-7 over the that span to lead 36-27.
Atlanta had 15 turnovers in the first half and Suns pushed the lead to as many as 14 in the second quarter, when a three-point play by Tucker made it 47-33. But the Hawks outscored Phoenix 15-3 the rest of the way and a 3-pointer by Hardaway Jr. with 31.8 second left cut the lead to 50-48 at the break.
Hardaway had 12 points in the half to lead the Hawks.
NOTES: Hawks F Paul Millsap missed his first game of the season with a left hip injury. He has been dealing with muscle soreness since taking a fall against the Utah Jazz on Nov. 25. ... Suns F T.J. Warren missed his fifth straight game with a minor head injury. His return date remains indefinite. ... Jared Dudley returned after missing one game with left foot soreness. ... Hawks G Devin Trevor Booker has 10 30-point games in the first 93 games of his career. The only players with 10 30-point games in fewer games are Blake Griffin (53) and Kryie Irving (85). ... Atlanta entered the game with the NBA's best defense per possession, with a rating of 97.5 per 100 possessions. They are ninth in overall defense, allowing 99.4 points per game. ... The Suns have dominated the Hawks in Arizona, winning 44 of 61 overall meetings (72.1 percent). ... Eric Bledsoe came into the game averaging 26 points, seven rebounds and 6.6 assists. The last Sun to average at least 19 points, five rebounds and five assists was Charles Barkley during his NBA MVP season of 1992-93.