CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Dwight Howard lost his cool, and the Atlanta Hawks lost a potentially key Eastern Conference game.Howard was ejected with 5:38 left and his team leading by three when he threw an elbow at the head of Charlotte center Cody Zeller and received a Flagrant-2 foul. The Hornets scored the next nine points -- seven by Kemba Walker -- and snapped Atlantas six-game winning streak with a 100-96 victory Friday night.Nic Batum had 24 points and 10 rebounds, and Zeller matched his career high with 23 points on 9-of-10 shooting for the Hornets (8-3), who earned their biggest win of the season.Walker overcame a slow start to score 19 of his 21 points in the second half for his 10th straight 20-point game.Howard said afterward the contact wasnt intentional and he didnt think it cost his team the game.It wasnt like I tried to hit him in the face, but my job is to protect my house -- at all costs, said Howard, who finished with 10 points and 18 rebounds. I am making no apologies for it.Paul Millsap, who led the Hawks with 22 points and 13 rebounds, said the ejection fueled the home crowd.Plays like that are momentum shifts, Millsap said. It kind of sparked them. They took that and added fuel to the fire.The ejection revved up the crowd -- and apparently Walker, too.The 6-foot point guard drove baseline and made a reverse layup to give the Hornets the lead for good. Walker added another layup off a hesitation dribble and then connected on a 3-pointer from the top of the arc to push the lead to six.Zeller said after the game he didnt think Howards elbow to the face was a dirty play.I have taken a lot of hard hits with two older brothers, Zeller said. I knew it was going to be a physical game. But it was a huge play in the game because they couldnt go to him late in the game and we went on a run.TIP-INSHawks: Howard had 11 rebounds at halftime, while the rest of the starting lineup had two combined. ... The Hawks shot just 3 of 17 from the field in the fourth quarter.Hornets: Michael Kidd-Gilchrist did a nice job guarding Kyle Korver, limiting him to two points through the first three quarters. ... Jeremy Lamb was close to returning to the lineup but is still bothered by a hamstring injury.STRONG SECOND HALFWalker, who came in averaging 25.8 points per game -- the third-best mark in the Eastern Conference -- missed all seven of his shots from the field in the first half but was 8 of 13 the rest of the way.There wasnt anything different, Walker said. I was aggressive all night, I just stayed aggressive. At one point shots just werent falling for me like they have been lately. I stuck with it, my teammates just kept telling me `stay with it, its going to fall. I just tried to play the game and pick my spots and I was able to come up with some big plays.HORNETS COMEBACKSIn six of Charlottes eight wins the team has come back from 10 points down. Now, the Hornets have a busy stretch coming up with 18 games in 32 days.If were a good team, the kind of team we need to be, then we have to get on this plane with the right attitude and find a way to play a good game tomorrow night on the road and win, coach Steve Clifford said. Thats what the good teams do.SUPPORTING DWIGHTKorver threw his support behind Howard after the game.Hes just kind of a safety net for us, Korver said. Hes back there with all that size, I think he had 18 rebounds tonight, and hes back there to protect the paint. Thats his job. Thats what hes great at.UP NEXTHawks: Travel to New York to face the Knicks on Sunday afternoon.Hornets: Head out on the road to New Orleans to face the Pelicans on Saturday night.Ray Black Brewers Jersey . The Dutchmans tenure got off to a poor start when referee Guido Winkmann awarded a penalty within two minutes for Niklas Starks clumsy challenge on Alexandru Maxim. Eric Thames Jersey . Philadelphia is 2-0 against the Senators this season and scored five goals in each victory. The Flyers recorded a 5-0 win in Ottawa on Nov. 12 and then earned a 5-2 home decision on Nov. 19. The Flyers have claimed three straight and four of the last five encounters with the Sens overall and Philly has won two in a row and three of its past four tests in Canadas capital city. https://www.cheapbrewers.com/889y-hernan-perez-jersey-brewers.html . -- Matt Ryan needed one of the best games of his career to lead the Falcons and their depleted offence out of their three-game losing streak last week. Jake Faria Jersey . Meanwhile, there were huge victories for Sunderland and West Ham over fellow relegation rivals, leaving the battle to avoid the drop up for grabs with the bottom 11 teams separated by just six points. Eden Hazard and Fernando Torres scored second-half goals to seal a fourth straight victory for Chelsea, which climbed above Arsenal and Manchester City in the standings ahead of their games on Monday and Sunday respectively. Lorenzo Cain Jersey . Despite dominating possession, Schalke needed an own goal from Nicolas Hoefler for the breakthrough a minute before the interval. The Freiburg midfielder misjudged Jefferson Farfans corner and bundled the ball into his own net.AKRON, Ohio -- Golf in Ohio must bring out the best in William McGirt.One month after his first PGA Tour victory at the Memorial, McGirt looked just as good two hours up the road at the Bridgestone Invitational. In his World Golf Championship debut, he opened with six birdies and finished with a 45-foot par for a 6-under 64 and a three-shot lead.An Ohio sweep?Thats only happened four times, and McGirt made a strong guess at the answer.Tiger Woods, Tiger Woods, Tiger Woods and Tiger Woods? he said. That would be pretty special company.He left out Greg Norman in 1995 (Memorial and World Series of Golf), no less a select group.McGirt had some decent company behind him after an opening round of warm sunshine and fast conditions at Firestone. Jason Day, the worlds No. 1 player, was among three players at 67, while Jordan Spieth somehow managed to post a 68 despite having only one birdie attempt (he missed) in his first 10 holes.I wasnt supposed to shoot 2 under today, Spieth said.U.S. Open champion Dustin Johnson had a U.S. Open kind of round -- 15 pars, two birdies and a bogey -- for a 69. His big celebration was walking off the 11th green to learn that his alma mater, Coastal Carolina, had just won the College World Series for its first national title. His golf wasnt bad considering that he didnt practice much last week while celebrating his first major (and his 32nd birthday) in The Bahamas.I didnt expect a whole lot today, Johnson said. I always expect to play well, but this golf course is playing tough.Only 17 players of the 61-man field broke par. The first round ended with only 58 players.Daniel Berger withdrew after his opening tee shot with a shoulder injury. Brooks Koepka withdrew after 13 holes with an ankle injury. Ryder Cup captain Davis Love III, playing at Firestone for the first time since 2009, withdrew after a 78 because of what was described as a torn labrum.The field also was missing Rory McIlroy and Masters champion Danny Willett, among several European Tour players who opted to play the French Open this week.McGirt had never played in a WGC until he became eligible with his playoff victory at Muirfield Village a month ago. He showed up at Firestone on Sunday, playedd nine holes and rode in a cart on the back nine.dddddddddddd fell in love with the place because length is not everything out here, McGirt said. You have to drive it in the fairway. You have to drive it in the correct spots in the fairways to be able to attack pins. I love it because you cant stand up there and just hit it as hard as you want, go find it and hack it on the green. Its an old, traditional style golf course, which I absolutely love.I dont know, maybe its something with Ohio I like, he added.The most peculiar round belonged to Spieth, who said he has been in a lull the last month as he searches for something in his swing, particularly his wedges. It had the look of a score closer to 74 or 75, except that the former Masters and U.S. Open champion kept hanging in there with pars. One shot hit a tree and bounced forward over the water into a bunker. He whiffed on a 7-iron that left him a tough pitch, but he managed to save par from 8 feet.He ended the front nine with par-saving putts from 20 feet and 25 feet.It took him until the 15th hole before he had back-to-back birdie putts, and he started converting them. He holed the last four of them.Im really just searching for something that isnt far off, thats real simple, Spieth said. It really is only taking place on my scoring clubs, but thats where you need them. Its close. Its almost there. And when it clicks, were definitely in business the way the short game is.Emiliano Grillo and Jimmy Walker also were at 67 with Day, while Spieth was joined by Rickie Fowler, Anirban Lahiri and Charley Hoffman.Day said he felt a burden lifted by making his announcement not to play in the Olympics because of Zika concerns, but he didnt think that equated to his golf. It was a tidy round with only one bogey and four birdies, and a pair of tough par saves from a bunker on No. 9 and behind the green on the par-5 16th.It was just kind of a weird feeling of a day where I kind of made some good pars, kept the momentum going, and all of a sudden I shot 67, Day said. Ive just got to keep grinding until Sunday is over. ' ' '