Paul Millsap scored 21 points and went past 10,000 for his career, leading host Atlanta to a dominant second half that carried the Hawks past the Nets, 114-86, on Saturday night.

Atlanta stopped a two-game losing streak and reached the midpoint of the season at 24-17. A year ago, the Hawks were 33-8 on the way to claiming the top seed in the Eastern Conference.

“It was great, the way we moved the basketball, the way we played defense,” Millsap said.

He added, referring to a coming game against Orlando, “The test is, how do we respond Monday?”

The Hawks have struggled to find consistency, looking at times like the 60-win juggernaut from last season — for instance, in a 15-point win over Chicago a week ago — but being plagued by perplexing losses, like the last two to Charlotte and Milwaukee, a pair of below-.500 teams.