Teague's 26 points lead Hawks past Pelicans 100-91

ATLANTA (AP) Mike Budenholzer wasn't going to let the Atlanta Hawks relax after their strongest defensive half of the season, especially when he detected a lack of intensity to open the second half.

Budenholzer called a full timeout after New Orleans' first possession of the second half, and the Hawks got the message that no letdown would be tolerated.

Led by Jeff Teague's 26 points and the strong defense in the first half, the Hawks answered every second-half challenge from New Orleans and beat the Pelicans 100-91 on Friday night.

DeMarre Carroll added 19 points for Atlanta, which didn't trail after the opening period.

Ryan Anderson and Jrue Holiday each had 20 points for New Orleans.

The Pelicans couldn't recover after being held to a season-low 28 first-half points, but Budenholzer wasn't happy when New Orleans opened the second half with back-to-back baskets by Tyreke Evans, who had 18 points, and Anthony Davis, who had 14 points and 11 rebounds.

''I don't think our focus was where it needed to be coming out of halftime,'' Budenholzer said. ''They're a very good third-quarter team.''

Atlanta's Kyle Korver said the timeout was ''a great thing to do'' for the Hawks ''to kind of figure out if we were going to play in the second half or not.''

The Pelicans cut Atlanta's lead to seven points three times in the fourth period, the last at 94-87. Teague answered with a basket that barely beat the shot clock with 39 seconds remaining.

''We just came out aggressive on both ends,'' Teague said. ''The team did a really good job of playing good team defense. We just helped one another.''

Paul Millsap had 13 points and nine rebounds and Al Horford had 10 points and 10 rebounds for Atlanta.

Teague and his backup, Dennis Schroder, each used quick drives to the basket to win matchups against Pelicans guards, including Holiday. Schroder had 11 points.

Teague made 10 of 16 shots and had seven assists.

''Teague lived in our paint tonight,'' said New Orleans coach Monty Williams.

Teague went behind his back on a drive and layup to spark Atlanta's 8-0 run to finish an otherwise sluggish first half for both teams.

Teague then set up a basket by Horford, who scored again on an assist from Pero Antic to give the Hawks a 41-28 halftime lead. It was the Pelicans' lowest first-half total for the season and the fewest points allowed by Atlanta in any half this year.

TIP-INS

Pelicans: New Orleans made only 5 of 20 shots while scoring only 13 points in the second quarter. ... After making one start, Darius Miller moved back to the bench and did not play. ... Omer Asik had 10 points and 11 rebounds.

Hawks: G Thabo Sefolosha was held out with flu-like symptoms, leaving Atlanta with 12 active players. ... G John Jenkins and C Adreian Payne were assigned to Fort Wayne of the NBA Development League. It is the rookie Payne's second assignment to Fort Wayne. Jenkins, in his third season, scored 12 points in his only game with Atlanta this season.

UP NEXT

Pelicans: At Washington on Saturday.

Hawks: Host Charlotte on Saturday.

KORVER STREAKING

Korver, best known for his 3-point shooting, made each of his three free throws. He has made 28 consecutive free throws since his last miss on Nov. 7 at Charlotte. Tom McMillen set the team record with 47 consecutive free throws in 1978-79.

BAD START

New Orleans shooting guard Austin Rivers missed each of his eight shots from the field and did not score in his first start of the season.

''I had good looks,'' Rivers said. ''... I'm not going to whine.''