NBA Watch (Feb 2)

Centre Al Horford scored nine of his 23 points in the fourth quarter to send the Atlanta Hawks to their 19th consecutive victory as they topped Philadelphia 91-85 on Saturday (yesterday morning, Singapore time).

The win gave Atlanta a perfect 17-0 record for January — the run started with a win over Milwaukee on Dec 17 — making them the first NBA team to reach that mark and extending the franchise record for most wins in a single month.

Horford was 10 of 16 from the floor, including a jumper that gave Atlanta a five-point lead with 46.9 seconds left. He also had 11 rebounds, four assists and three blocked shots.

“Al made a lot of big plays,” Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said. “When the game got tight defensively, he went to the boards.”

Atlanta (40-8) also got 15 points and eight rebounds from forward Paul Millsap, 15 points and six assists from guard Dennis Schroder, 14 points from guard Kyle Korver and 10 points from guard Jeff Teague.

The 76ers attacked with 3-pointers in the second half. They set season highs with 14 3s, including nine in the second half, and 35 attempts.

Philadelphia coach Brett Brown called the second-half a fantastic learning experience. “Let it fly. Go ahead and get your legs into your shot, find your team-mate and you will or you won’t. And they did,” he said.

“And we had to, because they do such a good job of guarding the paint, that’s all that was open.” AGENCIES

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