CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Dwight Howard gives the Charlotte Hornets an element they have never had previously during coach Steve Clifford's five-year tenure -- a dominant presence in the paint.

Howard gave a glimpse of what kind of an impact he can have on Friday night as the Hornets roared past the Atlanta Hawks 109-91 in their home opener.

The 14-year veteran center, obtained from Atlanta during the offseason in a trade for Miles Plumlee and Marco Belinelli, had 20 points and 15 rebounds and was particularly effective in the stretch where the Hornets took control of the game.

Atlanta led by 20 points early in the second quarter, but the Hornets erased that with a 24-0 spurt in the third quarter and they eventually led by as many as 20 down the stretch.

Charlotte coach Steve Clifford said it would surely take time for the Hornets to learn to play with Howard, but he liked what he saw on Friday night. Howard was 8 of 12 from the field and 4 of 8 from the free-throw line.

"I'm hoping this is just the beginning," Clifford said of Howard. "I think first you have to figure out as a team what you have to do to play well, and it's obvious to me and it's obvious to them that we defend and rebound with physicality, and that leads to good offense. And that's what we got tonight from Dwight."

Howard gave credit to his teammates.

"I just tried to dominate in the paint," he said. "Anytime I got in the paint I tried to finish strong. My teammates found me in good spots. When we play like that, when we have fun and we play hard, we still play with intensity and we win. When we play uptight, when we're not having fun on the floor, it shows. When we're just out there hooping like we did in the second half, I don't think anybody can beat us."

Kemba Walker led the Hornets (1-1) with 26 points and nine assists on a night when he hit four 3-pointers and also got to the line 12 times, making 10. The Hornets also got 21 points off the bench from Frank Kaminsky and 15 points from Jeremy Lamb.

"We had a lot of guys play well," Clifford said. "But Dwight and Kemba really in the second half were outstanding, and Frank played really well too."

The Hawks (1-1) led 40-20 with 8:52 left in the second quarter, taking advantage of 15 first-half Charlotte turnovers. But the Hornets whittled the margin down to 56-49 at halftime, and then came the 24-0 run in the third quarter that turned a 69-60 deficit into an 84-69 lead.

Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer was philosophical about the Hornets' 24-0 run.

"We are going to have to look at film, but it was probably good defense on their part and we probably missed some open shots," he said. "On some plays our execution was good and probably on others we need to improve. They hit some tough shots and they hit some open ones. Sometimes it's a game of runs. It was a big run for them and kind of changed the game."

Dennis Schroder led the Hawks with 25 points. Taurean Prince scored 15 and Dewayne Dedmon and Kent Bazemore scored 11 each. But Ersan Ilyasova went scoreless and Belinelli, who scored 20 off the bench in a season-opening win at Dallas on Wednesday, finished with just five points on 1-of-10 shooting.

The Hawks shot just 37.9 percent from the field and were 7 of 30 from 3-point range.

"It's frustrating, especially if you're up by (20) in the first half at one point in time," Prince said. "But things happen. The luxury about the NBA is we have 82 games and they're so close together so we have to have some type of amnesia and get onto the next game."

NOTES: The Hornets were short-handed, missing four regulars. C Cody Zeller (right knee bone bruise), F Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (personal), G Michael Carter-Williams (knee soreness) and G Nic Batum (sprained left elbow) were all out, and Batum could miss another month or so. ... The Hawks were without C Miles Plumlee (strained right quad). ... Hornets C Dwight Howard recorded his 668th career double-double, which is tops in the NBA among active players. ... The Hawks opened their season with a 117-111 win at Dallas on Wednesday, behind 28 points from G Dennis Schroder. ... The Hornets opened their season with a 102-90 loss at Detroit. ... This was the first of four meetings between the Southeast Division rivals, but they won't meet again until late January. The Hornets won three of four between the teams last season. ... The Hornets will travel to Milwaukee on Monday. ... The Hawks will continue on a season-opening five-game road trip on Sunday afternoon at Brooklyn. They won't play their first home game until Oct. 27 against Denver.