This was a long way to come to get drubbed.
The Hawks started a six-game West Coast road trip in Denver and were overwhelmed by the hot-shooting Nuggets Wednesday. Denver led by as many as 34 points en route to a 115-102 victory over Atlanta at the Pepsi Center.
The Nuggets’ mastery of the Hawks continued with their eighth straight win on their home court. The Hawks have not won in Denver since Dec. 6, 2006.
Maybe it’s the thin air.
“You have to give them credit,” DeMarre Carroll said. “They shot the ball really well and we just sucked.”
Discretion became the better part of valor with 2:35 left in the third quarter, and the Hawks trailing by 29, as coach Mike Budenholzer pulled his starters. Through three quarters, the Nuggets shot 61 percent (37 of 61) from the field and 55 percent (12 of 22) from 3-point range. In the third quarter, the Nuggets scored 38 points and shot 68 percent from the field.
With the Hawks’ starters watching, the bench made the game respectable. The unit outscored the Nuggets 34-17, at one point using a 24-1 run to pull within nine points. The Nuggets shot 22 percent to drop their overall total for the game to 50 percent.
“They had a lot of good shots that they took advantage of,” Budenholzer said. “They had some balls go in that on another night might have bounced out. It’s poor defense. When somebody shoots 60 percent, it’s a little bit of everything.”
The Hawks (50-14) split the season series with the Nuggets and fell to 18-5 (6-4 road) against the Western Conference. The loss snapped a four-game win streak against the West overall. The Hawks’ magic numbers remained four to clinch the Southeast Division and seven to clinch the top seed in the East.
Kyle Korver led the Hawks with 18 points, including five 3-pointers. He moved into 12th place, past Kobe Bryant, on the NBA’s all-time 3-point list with 1,697.
The Hawks also got double-digit scoring from Dennis Schroder (13), Paul Millsap (12) and John Jenkins (10).
“We weren’t able to play our game,” Millsap said. “We weren’t able to move the ball. We weren’t able to get to the basket like we wanted to. Half of that was them, half of that was us. We didn’t drive as much as we normally do.”
The Nuggets (24-41), playing their sixth game under interim head coach Melvin Hunt, won their second straight. They placed seven players in double-figure scoring, led by Danilo Gallinari with a game-high 23 points. Four of the double-digit scorers were reserves.
The Nuggets jumped all over the Hawks early. They led by as many as 24 points in the second quarter thanks to a 23-8 run to start the period. After a Gallinari free throw, on a technical foul on Millsap, the Nuggets led 54-30. The Hawks ended the quarter on a 12-6 run to trim their deficit to 18 points, 60-42, at intermission.
The Nuggets shot 60 percent in the first quarter and finished the half shooting 56.4 percent. Gallinari had 18 first-half points.
The Hawks went 3-0 on a West Coast trip in January. This is not the start they wanted on the final trip.
“We talked about coming here and starting a really good road trip,” Korver said. “Our last road trip when we went west was when we found ourselves. We really grew in confidence. We talked about doing the same thing. We didn’t have a very good start. They got hot. They shot the lights out. They hit a lot of tough shots. Their confidence, obviously, really grew as the game went on. They really smacked us.”
The Hawks continue the six-game road trip at the Suns Friday.
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