On Friday morning, Hawks forward Josh Smith proposed that that night's game would show where the team's momentum and drive was.
The outcome: Miami Heat 106, Hawks 85.
"It doesn't feel like we're going out there believing we can win," forward Damien Wilkins said.
Exhibiting little urgency and an insatiable appetite for jump shots, the Hawks continued their late-season slide. The Hawks are 3-6 in March despite playing all but one of the games at home. Of the six losses, five have been by double figures. Since reaching a season-high 15 games over .500 on Feb. 5, the Hawks are 6-11.
"We're going through a real rough patch right now," center Al Horford said. "We're going to keep fighting, and we have to figure it out."
A prideful effort by Hawks backups in the fourth quarter prevented the final score from being far worse.
Despite taking the final quarter off, Heat forward LeBron James clubbed the Hawks with 43 points on 16-of-21 shooting, including 5-of-7 from 3-point range. He fairly detonated in the third quarter, outscoring the Hawks 23-20 by himself as the Heat pushed a 50-37 halftime lead to 86-57.
James was practically unstoppable, making 10 of his first 11 shots. Smith was unable to keep up with him on the perimeter as James dropped a series of pull-up and step-back jumpers over the Hawks. By the end of the third quarter, he and guard Dwyane Wade had scored 57 points, equal to the Hawks' collective output.
"I didn't think we put enough resistance on him," said Wilkins, who came off the bench to play physical defense on James. "To me, it felt like or seemed like we were conceding the fact that he was making shots. He was way too comfortable pulling up for jump shots, coming down and just doing whatever he wanted to do."
The Hawks fell to 39-30 while Miami improved to 47-22.
In front of a sellout crowd that included Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and rapper Ludacris, the Hawks did little right. Among coach Larry Drew's objectives for the team were to rebound well, move the ball on offense to make Miami work and to score points in transition.
The Hawks were outrebounded 50-27, repeatedly tossed up jump shots early in the shot clock and showed little urgency to run after Miami misses or turnovers. Through the first three quarters, the Hawks had missed 34 shots and managed to rebound just four of those misses. Moreover, they were 12-for-22 from the free-throw line.
The night was perhaps best summarized midway through the third quarter. After James missed a jump shot over Smith, Heat forward Chris Bosh easily beat the Hawks for the rebound. He gave it back to James, who swished a 3-pointer.
It was not the sort of performance Hawks fans might have hoped for following their team's uninspired performance against Denver Wednesday, a loss that prompted center Horford to question the team's maturity and focus and Smith to concede that the team at times lies down in the face of adversity.
"We got a little discouraged when LeBron started making all those shots," Horford said. "That's part of the game. That's something that we've got to be mentally stronger."
Following the game, Hawks public-address announcer Ryan Cameron reminded fans that tickets for the team's last regular-season home game (April 11), against the Heat, were on sale. Presumably, the announcement was intended for Heat fans.
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