Zaza Pachulia, forward of Georgian national basketball team, is on a perfect form which he proved once again in the game against “Chicago”. “Atlanta” hosted titled opponent on its arena and beat it. Zaza was one of the best players of the game. Larry Drew did not put Zaza in lineup. Pachulia played for 21:06 minutes. He earned 6 points (2-6 2 points, 2-2 free throws), 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals.
The game started on low temp. In the first quarter the opponents protected themselves well. The guests advanced with 4 points (21:17) after the shots of Belinelli, Hinrich and Deng.
In the second half of the second quarter “Chicago” got tired and “Atlanta” used it. The team had 16-point advantage (53:37) before the big break.
In the second half “Atlanta” played good team play. All five members of the lineup managed to earn 11 and more points. The lineup of “Hawks” defeated the guests’ lineup 72:39. The hosts beat their opponent 92:75 and celebrated the 16th victory in the current season.
Deng earned 11 points from “Chicago”. Al Horford earned 20 points+10 rebounds.
After the game Larry Drew, head coach of “Hawks”, stated: “I am not going to discuss that strategy we used today. We showed good team play”.
“Atlanta” is in the second place in Southeastern Conference (16-9). The team is behind “Miami” (18-6). In spite of the failure, “Chicago” is still leading the conference with 15 wins and 11 losses.
Giorgi Barbakadze
