Hawks squander late lead over Cavaliers

For every play his team made Sunday night, Hawks captain and All-Star Joe Johnson counted a missed opportunity.

So, instead of an overtime period tacked on to the end of 48 minutes of prime time action against the best team in the Eastern Conference, the Hawks had to walk off their own floor, knowing that they let yet another crucial game slip away.

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Jessica McGowan/jmcgowan@ajc.com

Cleveland’s LeBron James scored 26 points, including the winning free throw with 1.6 seconds left. Joe Johnson (2) led the Hawks with 21 points.

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The Cavaliers 88-87 win on a LeBron James free throw with 1.6 seconds to play stung even more because it was televised on ESPN. And it’s rare, just twice this season, that the Hawks have managed to shove their way into the homes of millions of folks who never see them play.

Johnson’s jumper that bounced off the far side of the rim as time expired only slammed home the point for the Hawks, who fell to 33-26 with the loss.

“This was a great game, a huge game for us, and we should have pulled this game out,” he said, shaking his head at the thought of the Hawks’ losing a seven-point lead in the final four minutes. “I had a great look at the end, and I thought it was going to go in. But, the truth is, we were put in a tough position.

“At the very least, we should still be out there playing. I mean, that game deserved as much. For the most part we played a great game. We just had a few mistakes that cost us.”

Their last mistake was the most costly.

With the sold-out game tied at 87-87 and the Cavaliers rebounding Johnson’s miss with 25.9 seconds to play, James drove the lane and was fouled by Al Horford with 1.6 seconds left on the game clock.

“I don’t know what I did. I guess I’ll have to look at the tape,” Horford said. “He came to me. I jumped straight up and stayed in my vicinity and the ref thought it was a foul.”

It was a call that, to a man, the Hawks disagreed with.

James missed the first free throw but sank the second, leaving the Hawks those 1.6 seconds to try and salvage what just a few minutes earlier looked like a miracle win.

After all, they’d rallied from a 13-point third quarter deficit with a magnificent charge led by Johnson and reserves Flip Murray and Zaza Pachulia.

The three of them combined for 19 of the Hawks’ 25 points in the third, when they outscored the Cavaliers by 11 points to gain control.

“To play as well as we did and then to lose on a free throw, to lose by one point is hard to swallow,” Marvin Williams said. “I’ve said it my whole life and it hits home tonight, I’d rather lose by 100 points than lose by one. Because there are so many little things you can do to make up for that. And we can’t get it back.”

And the Hawks did get Johnson a wide open look at the end.

“We got a great look at the end of the game,” Hawks coach Mike Woodson said. “But it should not have come down to that. I have to do a better job of managing the game. We made a couple of plays at the end that were costly.”

The Hawks get to move on quickly, playing in Washington tonight in the first game of a three-game road trip that ends Friday in Charlotte.

The Cavaliers (46-12) play again March 21 in Cleveland.

“We’re confident in whoever we play,” Horford said. “This was a great game, a heavyweight fight. And we’ll be ready the next time around.”