SPURS 95, HAWKS 89: Texas-sized futility

San Antonio —- The Hawks’ 0-for-Texas streak will live for another year.

Their last chance to end the streak this season came undone in the final 35 seconds in a 95-89 loss Wednesday night to the San Antonio Spurs at AT&T Center.

Joe Johnson’s layup put the Hawks within a basket, 87-85, with 61 seconds to play. But Manu Ginobili’s spinning layup with 32.2 seconds left proved to be the difference for the Spurs.

The Hawks’ streak of futility in Texas dates to March 2004 in Dallas, a 15-game stretch that has seen the Hawks fall to the Spurs, Houston Rockets and Dallas Mavericks in every conceivable fashion every time they’ve faced one of those teams on the road.

The Hawks had to work overtime in the first half to try and recover from an early 14-point deficit, once again expending loads of energy just to get back into the game.

“They set the tempo early and made it clear that they were going to go after every loose ball,” said Johnson, who finished with 29 points. “They played like they wanted this game. And we’re running out there with no energy, like we don’t even want to be out there.”

Somehow, the Hawks were still in the mix late, thanks to some clutch shot-making from Johnson and Flip Murray, the only other Hawks player to reach double figures with 17 off the bench.

The Hawks were down just three, 79-76, with 3:27 to play when their comeback attempt went haywire.

Back-to-back technical fouls on Mike Bibby and Al Horford helped the Spurs pad their lead with free throws. Tim Duncan’s layup on the ensuing possession gave the Spurs an 83-78 lead with just over two minutes to play.

“I said, ‘Come on, man,’” a still furious Bibby said after the game. “That’s all I said, and I got a tech. Go ask Al what he said.”

Horford, clutching an ice pack to his face after taking a lick there while boxing out Spurs forward Matt Bonner, said he wasn’t even talking to the officials. He was asking Bibby why he got his technical when Horford got slapped with one of his own.

“You’ve got a tight game going on, a great game, and you’re going to blow it up like that,” Horford said. “All I did was say, ‘What happened?’ to Mike because I didn’t know what happened. They gave me a tech for talking to Mike. And that’s all there was to that.”

Still, the Hawks made things even tougher on themselves by playing so poorly early on.

Aside from those late-game flashes, they didn’t do enough work to stay close to the Spurs, who didn’t show any signs of fatigue the night after pulling out a grueling double-overtime victory over in Dallas.

The Hawks worked Tuesday night as well, losing 92-84 in Houston in a game they led by eight points with just over six minutes to play. They folded up against the Rockets down the stretch, unable to sustain the focus and effort it took to take that late lead.

They never had that chance against the Spurs, who used a balanced scoring effort to thwart the Hawks, who fall to 12-9 this season and 0-3 on this road trip, which ends Friday night in Miami.

If the Hawks get pounded on the glass in Miami the way they did Wednesday night, 52-27 and a 23-5 edge in second-chance points for the Spurs, they’ll likely be on the short side of the ledger again.

“They made plays when they had to make them,” Hawks coach Mike Woodson said. “One of the things we talked about at our pregame meeting was that we had to come out and rebound against this team, or it would be a long night. We have to have all five guys rebounding. That’s the only way we have a legitimate shot at winning.”