It's been a down year for the Denver Nuggets as they recently fired head coach Brian Shaw and currently stand at 12th in the Western Conference. On Wednesday night, they racked up a key victory versus the East's best team in the Atlanta Hawks who were standing at 50-13.

The Hawks started out the game on a great note by going up 7-3. They were forcing turnovers and everything was going in the right direction. The Nuggets were able to take the lead at 9-7 and a huge night for Denver was ahead, and it was led by Danilo Gallinari. His three-point game got Denver out to a 22-15 lead, and they were on a 10-0 run. Gallinari had 10 points in the first quarter. The Nuggets were up, 31-22, at the end of the period.

The Nuggets started the second quarter on an 8-2 run that eventually built into a 47-28 lead. Jameer Nelson and Randy Foye were also on a three-point tear and combined for 6 of 10 made threes. Foye had 11 points and Nelson had 13. The Nuggets got out to a 54-30 lead with 3:38 minutes left in the half, but the Hawks cut the deficit to 18 as they went into halftime down, 60-42.

The Nuggets had a phenomenal third quarter, as they erupted for 38 points and shot 70 percent. Denver knocked down almost every shot around the perimeter, and they mostly came from the three-point line. Gallinari finished the game with 23 points on 8 of 12 shooting. The Nuggets went on to lead by 30 points at the end of the third quarter at 98-68.

The Hawks outscored the Nuggets 34-17 in the fourth quarter, as they attempted one final rally. They went on a 15-0 run to cut the lead to 17 with less than five minutes in the game. A John Jenkins three ball cut it to 12 with 1:15 left. Shelvin Mack tacked on another three to make it 111-102 with a minute left but could not overcome the deficit. Kyle Korver led all scorers for Atlanta with 18 points. He shot 5 of 7 from three and had a hot second half, but the Hawks could just not get the stops needed to fulfill their comeback.

The Hawks fell to 50-14 but still have a 10-game lead on the Cleveland Cavaliers at first in the East. They will face the Phoenix Suns on March 13th in the second game out of their six-game road trip. Four of those games come against teams on the West coast. Their road trip ends in Oklahoma City on March 20th. The Nuggets stand at 24-41 and will take on the Golden State Warriors at home on March 13th.