The Atlanta Hawks fell to the Sacramento Kings after blowing a 22-point lead. What went wrong in the second half?
Sometimes the Atlanta Hawks just can’t have nice things. Well, sometimes all of Atlanta sports can’t have nice things. It’s a cruel rule of nature that should be abolished. Things were going well for the Hawks last night against the Sacramento Kings, until they weren’t.
The Hawks held a 59-43 lead at the half. They looked to be in cruise control, dominating on both ends of the court. At one point in the third quarter the Hawks led by 22 points. Sacramento outscored Atlanta 31-25 in the third quarter, but that still gave them a ten-point cushion heading into the final quarter.
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The Kings then staged an impressive fourth quarter comeback to steal the game. They outscored the Hawks by 11 points in the fourth quarter, securing the victory 108-107. The ending was not without controversy.
Darren Collison gave the Kings a 108-107 lead with 3.5 seconds remaining on an off-balance layup. He blew by Dennis Schroder and finished at the rim with his left hand. It was an impressive crunch-time play.
On the ensuing Hawks possession, Tim Hardaway Jr.’s drive to the rim came up short. The replay showed a significant amount of contact by a few different Kings on the play. No foul was called and the Kings got the 108-107 win.
Hardaway himself thought that he got fouled. Here is what he said to Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the rest of the media after the game.
"“It’s clear,” Hardaway said. “There is nothing else to be said. It shouldn’t have gotten to that point. Everyone knows the call should have been made. They didn’t make it. Move on. It’s just hard to go out like that man.”"
"“It’s clearly a foul,” Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said. “They go right through his body. They go right through his lower left leg. It’s a foul. It was a no-call. We’ll get the report in the morning. They will say it was a no-call. It doesn’t do anything to help us now.”"
Atlanta played well offensively, especially in the first half. They shot 50.7 percent from the field and 36.7 percent from three-point range. Hardaway finished with 29 points on 9-for-17 shooting. Dennis Schroder added 20 points and six assists on 6-for-12 shooting. The anchorman, Paul Millsap, finished with 25 points on his birthday. Dwight Howard had six points and 11 rebounds.
Sacramento’s starting backcourt combined for 44 points. Collison and Ben McLemore each had 22 points. Anthony Tolliver poured in 15 points off the bench on 5-for-7 shooting from three-point range.
DeMarcus Cousins recovered from a slow start to finish his night with 22 points, 11 rebounds, and seven assists. He almost had a triple-double. Well, only if you consider turnovers, of which he had nine.
It was a frustrating loss that shouldn’t have happened. The Hawks should have closed out this game. The uncalled foul at the end of the game only adds to that frustration. Their tendency to face large deficits and lose large leads is starting to become a concern. The return of Thabo Sefolosha should help, but I’m not sure that his return solves the problem completely.
Atlanta will have the weekend off before taking on the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday night. They’ll then wrap up the first half of their season Wednesday against the Los Angeles Clippers