Hawks lose at Nets for third straight defeat

NEWARK, N.J. -- After taking a deflating beating from the Celtics on Monday, Hawks players said they talked out their issues in the locker room and vowed to show more determination at New Jersey the next night.

It all sounded good, but before the Hawks played the Nets on Tuesday, center Al Horford wasn't ready to say if it would make a difference.

"We’ll see,” Horford said. “I’d rather hold all of my thoughts until once we get out here and play. We can talk about certain stuff, but we have to go out there and do it on the floor.”

The Hawks competed, but couldn't finish. They lost 107-101 to the Nets for their third consecutive defeat and are 2-7 since starting the season 6-0.

"You don't fragment; you stick together," Hawks coach Larry Drew said. "You are going to have bumps in the road, but these are the situations that make you tougher, especially mentally."

A road game against a struggling opponent could have ended the Hawks' funk. The Hawks had posted a 5-0 record in that circumstance by regularly making key plays late, but couldn't do it this time.

The Hawks managed to force overtime against the Nets after trailing by 10 in the third quarter and 93-88 with less than two minutes to play. Then New Jersey scored the first five points of overtime, and the Hawks got no closer than three points in the final 1:29.

"The effort was there," Hawks guard Jamal Crawford said. "It just didn't go our way. We expended so much energy getting back in the game [that] we didn't have enough to finish."

The Hawks were down 87-80 late in the fourth quarter. Crawford's 3-pointer with one minute to play cut New Jersey's lead to 93-91, and Joe Johnson made two free throws with 20.3 seconds to tie the score at 93-93.

The Nets set up a pick-and-roll with Devin Harris and Brook Lopez. But Johnson switched off on Lopez, and Josh Smith forced Harris to miss at the regulation buzzer.

That was one of the few times the Hawks slowed Lopez and Harris. Lopez had 32 points and nine rebounds, and Harris added 27 points and nine assists.

Lopez, a 7-foot center, had 21 points and seven rebounds at halftime.

"Brook did a good job of getting us going in the first quarter and really establishing himself inside and sort of setting the tone for the game for us," Harris said.

Once Hawks reserves Zaza Pachulia and Jason Collins helped muscle Lopez away from the basket, Harris went for 23 points after halftime.

"Harris has always been a tough guard for us because of his speed and quickness," Drew said. "They run a lot of pick-and-rolls for him. He's clever with the ball, shifty with the ball. He knows how to create contact. When he's making his jump shot, he's difficult to stop."

The Hawks again showed little bounce early. The Nets got easy passage to the basket, and the Hawks couldn't make any as they trailed 31-21 at the end of the first quarter.

The Hawks trailed Boston 39-10 after one quarter, bringing their aggregate first quarter for both games to 70-31. They went on to a listless defeat to the Celtics, but Tuesday responded with intensity and energy for a 13-1 run that tied the score at 36.