Nets Get Revenge Over Hawks

No fights, no broken bones and not as many fouls.

In their second meeting in 24 hours, the New Jersey Nets got some revenge after a vicious game the night before by beating the Atlanta Hawks 79-69 Sunday night.

Keith Van Horn scored 18 of his 24 points in the second half and hit a go-ahead drive across the lane with 3:22 to play in the matchup that is quickly developing into a rivalry.

"We were really undermanned," center Jayson Williams said after the Nets won a game in which they dressed nine players because of injuries. "But the guys around here are dedicated to winning and right now we feel pretty good about ourselves."

The Hawks, who became the first NBA team in more than a decade to play three straight nights, made only 23 of 78 shots (29.5 percent). Atlanta had scored more than 100 points in its first two games.

"We played great team defense," said backup Nets forward Scott Burrell, who had 16 points. "Defense wins game in this league. We knew they would be tired and we could wear them down."

Hawks coach Lenny Wilkens wasn't surprised to see it happen.

"When I first came into the league we had to do that and it was brutal," he said. "Hey, back to back at the level these guys play is tough."

Each team will play three straight days three times in the lockout-shortened season.

New Jersey, which blew a nine-point lead to start the final quarter, closed the game with a 13-2 run in splitting the home-and-home series.

Small forward Kendall Gill, who was forced to start at point guard because of injuries to Sam Cassell and Eric Murdock on Saturday, added 15 points and 11 rebounds.

Chris Gatling, playing with a sore hamstring, added 14 points and 10 rebounds, while Williams had 13 rebounds and a monster block of a Steve Smith layup attempt with the Hawks still in the game late.

Smith had 24 points to lead the Hawks, who lost for the first time this season. He got no help as only Alan Henderson scored idouble figures adding 10 points.

"The one good thing we can take from this game is we were still in it in the fourth quarter," Smith said. "Give credit to New Jersey, they had some guys out and didn't want to start 0-2. It slipped away from us, but yeah, the fatigue was a problem."

The only time the Hawks looked impressive was in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter when they used a 14-4 spurt to take a 67-66 lead on the second of two free throws by Chris Crawford. Backup guard Ed Gray had seven points in the spurt.

Van Horn, who had 29 points on Saturday night, then drove across the lane to put New Jersey ahead. He added two free throws and then Gill pushed the lead to six with two more free throws with 2:08 to go. Gatling, who got into shoving match with Grant Long in the second half, iced the game with a jumper from the corner with 1:09 to go.

"I like the fact that when the game got close at the end we made the plays," Nets coach John Calipari said. "As beat up and hurt as we were it was a great win. It was a war out there."

While the game had some heated moments, it was a lot calmer than Saturday night's 111-106 game that ended with Smith and Gill reportedly wrestling on a hallway floor shortly after the final horn.

Williams also had his nose broken by a Dikembe Mutombo elbow and Cassell also had to be carried off the floor because of cramps and an ankle injury after scoring a career-high 36 points in the game that featured 72 fouls and 98 free throws.

Cassell and Murdock joined Kerry Kittles (knee) and backup center Rony Seikaly (ankle) on the sidelines Sunday night, leaving the Nets with nine players.

The Nets player who got the biggest ovation in their first home game was 5-foot-5 Earl Boykins. He came off the bench with 1:25 to go in the first quarter and hit two layups in an eight-point run.

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