Hawks too much for Pelicans, win fourth in a row

Trae Young and Jalen Johnson had double-doubles, and five other Hawks players scored in double figures as the visiting Atlanta Hawks defeated the New Orleans Pelicans 123-105 on Saturday night.

Young finished with 22 points and 12 assists, and Johnson had 21 points and 11 rebounds. Dejounte Murray scored 20, Onyeka Okongwu and Clint Capela each had 17 points, Saddiq Bey added 12 points and Bogdan Bogdanovic chipped in 10 points.

The Hawks made 5 of 11 3-pointers while outscoring the Pelicans 41-23 in the third quarter on the way to their fourth consecutive victory. They have averaged 127 points during the winning streak.

Zion Williamson scored 25 points, Brandon Ingram returned from a three-game absence due to knee soreness to score 16, rookie Jordan Hawkins had 15, and CJ McCollum and Herbert Jones scored 13 each for the Pelicans.

Atlanta hit 14 of 41 3-pointers and New Orleans made 8 of 31.

Williamson scored the first three points of the third quarter as New Orleans extended its seven-point halftime lead to 63-53.

But Johnson answered with seven points during a 17-6 run that gave Atlanta a 70-69 lead.

The Pelicans regained the lead momentarily before the Hawks made four 3-pointers and Young added a three-point play to give Atlanta a 90-75 lead.

The Hawks increased the lead to 17 points before Hawkins made consecutive 3-pointers to trim the lead to 94-83 at the end of the third quarter.

Okongwu made consecutive 3-pointers and Atlanta expanded the lead to 100-85 and maintained control the rest of the way.

Bey's 3-pointer gave the Hawks a 19-18 lead before Jones scored five straight points to start a 17-8 Pelicans run that gave them a 35-27 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Bogdanovic scored all of his 10 points during Atlanta's 16-6 run to start the second quarter, which produced a 43-41 lead.

Williamson had four straight points and New Orleans opened a 52-45 lead. He added eight more as the Pelicans maintained a 60-53 lead at halftime.