ATLANTA, (Reuters) – Joe Johnson dug himself out of a shooting slump with 36 points to lead the Atlanta Hawks to a 110-85 rout of the struggling Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday.
Atlanta’s All Star guard, who entered the night with a lone 20-point effort from his last six games, racked up 28 in the first half and finished with six three-pointers.
Wearing a special black headband to protect his scalp after he underwent a procedure for a skin infection, Johnson just may have found a lucky charm.
“I was supposed to change headbands at halftime, but everybody jumped up saying, ‘no, no.’ I’m not a headband kind of guy, but for right now I have to wear it,” Johnson told reporters. “I was making quick moves in the post. You get a couple easy baskets, and the basket starts to open up a little bit.”
Josh Smith added 17 points, 14 rebounds and four blocks for the Hawks (39-28) who exploded with a 20-0 run spanning the first and second quarters en route to a second straight win.
With the win, Atlanta moved 2.5 games behind the fourth-place Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference.
Milwaukee (26-40), coming off an embarrassing loss to the Boston Celtics on Sunday when they scored a franchise-worst 56 points, had 21 points and 13 rebounds from Andrew Bogut but fell two and a half games out of the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
The Bucks had won three straight games prior to their current two-game slide, and were knocked out early by Atlanta.
“We had trouble getting back on defense early in the game, and we looked a little bit tired,” said Milwaukee coach Scott Skiles. “It was just one of those games where we didn’t play very well.”