Professional Sports

Jeff Gordon, bouncing back from a hard crash in Las Vegas, felt a whole lot better Friday night after winning the pole for the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Dawsonville's Bill Elliott did not make the field during qualifying.

Tracy McGrady scored 41 points and the Houston Rockets stretched their winning streak to 18 games with a 106-96 victory over the New Orleans Hornets.

The Florida Panthers are trying to make a push for the playoffs, and Nathan Horton is supplying the clutch scoring.

ATLANTA -- The Atlanta Hawks were feeling a lot better about their playoff chances after two wins in less than three hours. Taking a page from baseball, the Hawks played a doubleheader of sorts against the Miami Heat on Saturday night, finishing off the last 51.9 seconds of a disputed game from December before their regularly scheduled contest.

DULUTH -- Chad Painchaud notched his first career hat trick, five other Gladiators added goals AND Craig Kowalski made 32 saves as the Gwinnett Gladiators beat the Augusta Lynx 8-3 at the Arena at Gwinnett Center on Saturday night.

HAMPTON -- It wasn't pretty, but Matt Kenseth was just happy to be in a NASCAR Nationwide Series Victory Circle after nearly a year. Kenseth passed Jeff Burton for the lead on lap 186 of Saturday's Nicorette 300, a race extended three laps beyond its scheduled 195 laps at Atlanta Motor Speedway by a late caution flag.

HAMPTON -- Jeff Gordon, bouncing back from a hard crash in Las Vegas, felt a whole lot better Friday night after winning the pole for the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Brett Dietz threw seven touchdown passes to help the Tampa Bay Storm beat the Georgia Force 69-48 in the Arena Football League.

Erik Christensen scored the only goal in the shootout and the Atlanta Thrashers snapped an eight-game losing streak by beating the Minnesota Wild 3-2 tonight.

Raymond Felton had 23 points and 11 assists, Matt Carroll scored 21 points and the new-look Charlotte Bobcats continued their surprising turnaround with a 108-93 win over the slumping Atlanta Hawks on Friday night.