ATLANTA -- With Anthony Davis sidelined, the New Orleans Pelicans didn't have a frontcourt answer for either Al Horford or Paul Millsap against the Atlanta Hawks.

Center Horford scored 26 points and forward Millsap had 16 rebounds to go with 19 points as the Hawks pulled away in the fourth quarter to defeat the shorthanded Pelicans 106-98 on Wednesday night.

"It was a lot different with him not out there," Horford said of Davis' absence.

Davis had scored 43 points in the Hawks' 121-115 victory at New Orleans last Friday, and had averaged 29.4 points and 11 rebounds while compiling five straight double-doubles against Atlanta.

The forward/center suffered a bruised right hip in the second quarter of the Pelicans' victory over Dallas on Tuesday and is sidelined indefinitely.

"We don't make excuses," said New Orleans guard Ish Smith, who had 18 points and eight assists. "Having AD was huge obviously. But we've had guys out all season and we were right there until the fourth quarter."

Millsap had eight points in the final quarter and guard Dennis Schroder scored half of his 12 points in the period for the Hawks (8-2).

"We picked up the energy in the second half," Millsap said. "I think that was the biggest difference."

The Hawks, though, also made adjustments after the Pelicans (1-7) shot lights out from behind the 3-point arc in the first half.

"We just switched coverages," Horford said. "What we were doing wasn't working."

Everything was working for Horford offensively, though. He rarely missed while taking advantage of the absence of Davis.

Horford, who also had eight rebounds, made 11 of 15 shots, including a career-best 4 of 6 on 3-pointers.

"It's something that I've spent time working on," Horford said of his long-range marksmanship. "It's not something where I'm just shooting them to shoot them. I feel good about them."

Guard Eric Gordon scored 26 points for New Orleans, while forward Ryan Anderson contributed 17 points and 10 rebounds.

Jeff Teague had 14 points and 10 assists for the Hawks, who forced 19 New Orleans turnovers.

"We ran out of gas a little bit," Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry said of his team's fade in the fourth quarter. "Anthony had a great game the last time we played them. But he wasn't out there, so we had to try other ways."

The Pelicans made 11 of 18 3-point attempts in the first half and led 56-47 at intermission despite 20 points by Horford.

"A lot of credit to New Orleans, coming in on a back-to-back without Anthony Davis and all the injuries their dealing with," Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said. "They had us definitely on our heels."

Smith had 16 points and Gordon 13 points in the first half for the Pelicans, who were up by as many as 12 points in the second quarter.

The Hawks, though, made 5 of 9 3-point shots in the third quarter and took a 75-74 lead on a basket by reserve center Tiago Splitter in the closing seconds of the period.

New Orleans made just 3 of 11 3-point attempts in the second half and shot only 40 percent overall after intermission.

"They did a lot better job of taking away the things we had done in the first half," Gentry said of the Hawks. "They made some adjustments and made it very difficult for us."

NOTES: The Pelicans don't have a timetable yet on how long F/C Anthony Davis will be sidelined by the bruised right hip he suffered Tuesday. "We'll just have to evaluate each day," said coach Alvin Gentry, whose team plays at Toronto on Friday. "It could be something that is fairly minor or it could be something that's not. I don't have any idea right now." ... G Jrue Holiday, coming off leg surgery, also sat out for the Pelicans against because he hasn't been cleared to play in back-to-back games. ... The Pelicans' injury list also includes G Tyreke Evans (knee), G Norris Cole (ankle), F Quincy Pondexter (knee) and C Kendrick Perkins (chest). ... After a review, Hawks G Jeff Teague was given a flagrant foul 2 for his not called punch of Minnesota F Nemanja Bjelica in the closing minute Monday, but won't be fined or suspended by the NBA. ... The Hawks assigned 7-foot-3 C Edy Tavares, a 2014 second-round draft choice who had played just two minutes, to Austin of the NBA Development League.