Young, Hunter pace Hawks past reeling Spurs 125-106

ATLANTA (AP)— Trae Young had 24 points and a season-high 17 assists, De’AndreHunter added 24 points and the Atlanta Hawks beat the reeling SanAntonio Spurs 125-106 on Saturday night.

The Spurs(14-43), losers of a season-high 12 straight, are a half-game aheadof last-place Houston (13-43) in the Western Conference. Atlanta(29-28) has won two straight and four of six. The Hawks are eighthin the East.

The losingstreak is San Antonio’s longest since the 1988-89 club dropped ateam-record 13 in a row.

“They playtheir (butt) off,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “They doeverything they can. We’ll just keep forming good habits and hopethat this builds and builds as the weeks and months and next seasoncome along.”

Atlanta nevertrailed after Young’s layup early in the third made it 65-64. TheHawks went on a 12-0 run to take a 75-64 lead, the game’s first indouble digits, on a pair of free throws by John Collins. A dunk byClint Capela made it 82-70 at the 4:39 mark of the third, and theSpurs called timeout.

“San Antoniois always going to play hard and always play the right way, meaningthere’s going to be five guys out there connected,” Atlanta coachNate McMillan said. “They’re going to be moving the ball. They’regoing to be working hard trying to outscrap you. That’s just theway they play.

“It took us24 minutes to start establishing and coming with that urgency thatwe needed on both ends of the floor.”

Young hit twofree throws to make it 93-77 entering the fourth with Atlanta’sbiggest lead. San Antonio was just 5 for 22 from the field in thethird and was outscored 32-17. The lead swelled to 23 in thefourth.

“I think wejust picked up the pressure defensively and got out and ran moreand got some better shots and some faster shots,” Young said. “Ithink we were going too slow in that first half, and they werepushing the pace and pushing it at us. We just knew we had to pickup the pressure.”

KeldonJohnson, San Antonio’s leading scorer this season, was back in thelineup after missing Friday’s double overtime loss at Detroit withleft ankle soreness and finished with 25 points. Jeremy Sochanadded 18.

Capelafinished with 14 points and 12 rebounds, and Collins added 17points for the Hawks.

The Hawks led61-60 at halftime as Hunter had 17 points, Capela had 12 pointswith eight rebounds and Young 12 points with 10 assists. Johnsonand Sochan each scored 18 before intermission for San Antonio.

Atlantaoutscored the Spurs 25-12 in points off turnovers.

TIP-INS

Spurs: Onenight after scoring 31 points to set a franchise record in a SanAntonio debut, Devonte’ Graham, acquired in Thursday’s trade withNew Orleans, finished with nine points off the bench. ... G TreJones was back in the lineup after missing four straight games withleft foot soreness and scored eight points. ... Sochan returnedafter missing four straight games with lower back soreness. Hescored 11 points in the first quarter and finished with acareer-high nine rebounds.

Hawks: In hisfirst game against his former team, Dejounte Murray scored 18points. ... Young passed Lenny Wilkens for fourth place on theHawks’ career assists list with 3,050. ... Newly acquired C BrunoFernando and G Garrison Mathews were not in uniform, but McMillanhopes they will be ready to debut Monday at Charlotte. ... Hunterhad 12 points and Young had six assists in the first quarter.

ONSITE

McMillan saidSaddiq Bey sat on the bench as the newly acquired swingman was inlimbo with Thursday’s four-team trade uncertain because Gary PaytonII allegedly failed a physical with Golden State. Payton wassupposed to return to the Warriors from Portland. Bey was acquiredfrom Detroit. Golden State has until Sunday to decide whether to goforward with the deal or nix it.