Place an obstacle in front of the Hawks this season and they have cleared it – with ease.
The Hawks have recorded one franchise record after another during this historic season. They have done so with the team for sale and without its general manager following racially-charged incidents before the season even started.
They faced with another out-of-the-ordinary challenge Wednesday.
Playing without Pero Antic and Thabo Sefolosha after their early-morning arrests, the Hawks won defeated the Nets, 114-111, at the Barclays Center with some late-game dramatics.
The depleted Hawks were also without Paul Millsap (right shoulder) and John Jenkins (illness) who remained in Atlanta.
After losing a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter, the Hawks got a perfectly executed basket from Al Horford with 19.1 seconds left out of a 20-second timeout to regain the lead. Kyle Korver found Horford going to the basket and the center slammed home the winning points. After Jarret Jack and Bojan Bodganovic missed shots for the Nets on the ensuing possession, Jeff Teague sealed the victory with a pair of free throws with 2.7 seconds left.
“We were just trying to get Kyle a 3,” said Horford, who led the Hawks with 24 points. “He made a good read. Give him credit. He draws a lot of attention and a lot of us benefit from that.”
The basket that gave the Hawks a 112-111 advantage was set up with Nets center Brook Lopez rushed Korver on the perimeter.
“There were a bunch of options on the play but that is one of them, to try to get a good look,” Korver said. “I felt Brook (Lopez) come out at me. We put the help in a spot where it was hard for them to get to Al where I could get a shot or Al could get a shot.”
The Hawks (59-19, 25-14 road) won their fifth straight over the Nets, including all four games this season. The Nets become the 11th team to be swept by the Hawks this season as they added to their franchise record win total.
The loss dropped the Nets to eighth place in the Eastern Conference and would be the Hawks opening round playoff opponent. They hold a one-game lead over the Pacers for the final berth.
The Hawks also got 20 points from Mike Scott, 19 points from DeMarre Carroll and 15 points and 12 assists from Teague. Over the past five games, Carroll is averaging 17.6 points, 7.0 rebounds and 3.2 assists. Korver made three 3-pointers to tie Dale Ellis (1,719) for 11th in NBA history.
The Nets (36-42) lost for the second time in the past nine games, both to the Hawks. They used a 16-3 fourth-quarter run to erase a 12-point deficit and set up the late-game dramatics. Lopez led the team with a game-high 26 points and10 rebounds.
Hawks players said overcoming the late on-court adversity will be a benefit come the postseason.
“That’s a good situation for us to be in and to learn from and to come through in come playoff time,” Korver said. “That’s what we were saying on the bench at the end. This is good for us. We need this. This is going to happen in a couple weeks. It was good to see us execute and come through.”
The Hawks led by as many as 12 points in the first half and took a 65-56 lead into intermission. They built the double-digit lead early as they made 8 of 11 shots to start the game and led 17-6 with 5:57 into the game. Horford (15) and Scott (14) led the scoring through two quarters. The lead grew to as many as 14 points in the third quarter and the Hawks took a 94-82 lead into the final period.
“For our guys to keep their poise and keep their composure and stay together and execute in some crucial moments on both ends of the court, that’s what you need going down the stretch,” Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said. “You need some close games to be tested.”
Hawks next host the Hornets on Friday.
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