Suffocating defense from the Spurs noticeably bothered the Hawks early, who missed six of their first seven shots. After the Spurs earned an 8-3 advantage, Kawhi Leonard got on the board with and and-1 three in which he completed the four-point play, and everything seemed to be going right for San Antonio.
A couple of turnovers allowed Atlanta to catch up which led to a San Antonio time-out, but then a "TarHeel-Triple" from Danny Green ended the run to give the second unit a five point cushion when it entered the game. The Hawks began to buckle down defensively, actively aggravating the ball handler and collapsing when the ball entered the paint, and took a 25-23 lead going into the second. LaMarcus Aldridge was very active on both ends of the floor in the first quarter with eight points and four boards.
The ball started to move in the second quarter and the Spurs took back control of the pace. San Antonio took advantage of Atlanta's lack of a big inside presence and began to break down the Hawks' defense by penetrating, pounding the ball inside and drawing fouls to slowly but methodically regain and extend the Spurs' lead. That combined with more smothering defense put the Spurs up 54-37 at the end of the second, holding their opponent once again to an impressively low amount of points at half. The Spurs outscored the Hawks 31-12 in the quarter, with Kawhi scoring the last 11.
Tony Parker continued his recent brilliance in the third with nine quick points in the first five or so minutes that put the Spurs up 24, and the Hawks couldn't ever find a groove. San Antonio was getting good looks every time down the floor on offense, and forcing difficult shots for Atlanta defensively. The Spurs went into the final quarter up by 21.
Manu Ginobili came out with a huge amount of energy and helped build the lead to 26 start the fourth quarter. Then, back to back threes from Patty Mills and Boris Diaw put the Spurs up 30, and the game was essentially out of reach for the Hawks. Speaking of threes, SA shot an impressive 53% from three (9-for-17) on the game, and held ATL to only 24% (6-for-25).
So, the Spurs win their 5th in a row, and improve to 14-3 overall.