The Hawks magic number is down to one with three games to play.
It took some dramatics to close in on a playoff berth.
The Hawks lost an 11-point third-quarter lead but got key baskets from Paul Millsap and Jeff Teague in the final two minutes for a 93-88 victory over the Nets Friday night at Barclays Center. The Hawks maintained a two-game lead over the Knicks for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Knicks won at the Raptors, 108-100, Friday night. Each team has three games remaining. The Hawks can clinch their seventh straight postseason appearance with a win Saturday against the Heat.
“It says a lot about our team,” Millsap said. “It says a lot about what we are trying to accomplish here. The focus that it took to get this win, it says a lot. Guys want to win. Guys want to make this push.”
The Hawks (36-43) have won two straight and five of their past seven games. The victory came despite a dreadful 1-for-19 shooting night from 3-point range.
Millsap led the Hawks with a game-high 27 points and 10 rebounds, his seventh straight double-double game. Teague added 22 points, including 14 in the second quarter.
“Probably not many people would think we could win a game only making one 3,” coach Mike Budenholzer said. “That’s probably what you look at when you look at the stat sheet, our defense allowed us to win a game when we only made one 3-point shot.”
The Nets (43-36) had their 15-game home win streak snapped. The loss was their first since falling to the Thunder on Jan. 31. Mason Plumlee each had 17 points off the bench to lead the Nets.
The Hawks led by as many as 11 points in the third quarter before the Nets rallied late. They went on a 15-8 run to end the quarter and trailed just 74-73 headed into the final period.
The Nets took an 88-87 lead with 2:22 remaining on a three-point play by Plumlee, the first advantage for the Nets first lead since the second quarter. It would be their last lead – and last points.
Millsap hit a tough reverse layup with 2:02 to put the Hawks back on top. Teague added a pair of free throws, after a charging call was reversed, and a floater in the lane with 19.3 to seal the needed victory.
“My main thing is just to try to get to the basket and get in on the rim,” Millsap said. “I was able to put some English on it. It was one of those luck shots.
“Plays like that turn games around. It just so happened to be me tonight. Through the course of the season, somebody has to make that shot. Jeff makes a lot of those shots. It came at the right time.”
The Nets hurt themselves from the free-throw line, making just 14 of 25 attempts. Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce each missed a pair of free throws in the fourth quarter.
Teague took over in the second quarter as the Hawks overcame a nine-point deficit. After the point guard entered the game with 6:51 remaining, the Hawks went on a 27-11 run with Teague scoring 14 of the points. Several of his drives to the basket came while being guarded by his younger brother Marquis. After one layup and foul, Teague looked into a television camera and yelled “Little brother!”
With All-Star Deron Williams out with patella tendinitis, Nets guard Jorge Gutierrez (three) and Marquis Teague (four) combined for seven fouls in the first half.
The Hawks took a 55-47 advantage in halftime with a 39-point second quarter. They stumbled out of the game with a 16-point first quarter. They made just 7 of 16 field goals. However, the biggest reason the Nets took a 23-16 advantage after the first period was a 7-0 advantage in offensive rebounds.
“I think we did it on the defensive end,” DeMarre Carroll said of the victory. “A lot of guys stepped up, took charges, helped one another. That’s what we’ve got to do, from now on until the end of the season.”
Carroll finished with 12 points. He had his right hand X-rayed following the game. It was negative for a broken bone.
Pierce became the 18th player in NBA history, and fourth active, to reach the 25,000-point mark with a second-quarter 3-pointer.
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