Hawks show surprising energy in easy win over Bulls

Jan 8, 2012, 6:29 GMT

Los Angeles - Josh Smith scored 25 points in a terrific all-around game Saturday night as the Atlanta Hawks completed a challenging stretch of five games in six nights with a 109-94 home rout of the Chicago Bulls.

Joe Johnson and Serbia's Vladimir Radmanovic scored 17 points apiece for Atlanta, which never trailed and ended Chicago's six-game winning streak. The Hawks avenged Tuesday's 76-74 road loss to the Bulls in which they wasted a 19-point lead.

Smith made 11-of-17 shots and added five rebounds, five assists, six blocks and four steals as he just missed a rare 'five-by-five' game - at least five of all of the positive individual stats. That was last accomplished on January 3, 2006 by Utah's Andrei Kirilenko.

Miami 101, New Jersey 90 =

LeBron James returned from a one-game absence with a sprained ankle and scored 24 of his 32 points in the first half as the visiting Heat improved to an NBA-best 8-1.

Oklahoma City 98, Houston 95 =

Kevin Durant scored 11 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter, including the go-ahead jumper with 22 seconds left, to complete a sweep of the home-and-home series for the visiting Thunder.

Elsewhere, the host Dallas Mavericks defeated the New Orleans Hornets, 96-81; the Philadelphia 76ers destroyed the visiting Toronto Raptors, 97-62; the New York Knicks notched a 103-80 road win over the Detroit Pistons; the Indiana Pacers cruised to a 99-77 home win over the Charlotte Bobcats; the host San Antonio Spurs outgunned the Denver Nuggets, 121-117; the visiting Utah Jazz edged the Golden State Warriors, 88-87; and the Los Angeles Clippers trimmed the visiting Milwaukee Bucks, 92-86.