One golden opportunity squandered.
The Hawks let a chance to close in on a playoff berth get away with a poor performance that resulted in a 102-95 loss to the Pistons Tuesday night at Philips Arena. Their magic number for a postseason spot remained at three despite hosting an opponent 20 games under .500.
The loss was particularly troublesome after the Hawks drubbed the Pacers Sunday to close in on the NBA’s second season.
“We want to be a good team,” Paul Millsap said. “We go to Indiana and beat them at home and we come here and lose to Detroit. That is not setting a good tone for who we are and who we want to be.”
The Hawks (34-43) still control their playoff destiny with a 1-1/2 game lead (two in the loss column) over the idle Knicks for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. They have five games remaining. A two-game win streak, that included the win in Indianapolis. The Pistons, who have long been eliminated from playoff contention, snapped a 10-game losing streak at Philips Arena and tied the season series, 2-2.
“We are still in the driver’s seat,” Korver said. “We have to take care of business and tonight was one we wish we would have gotten. It’s probably going to come down to the end. We just have to fill our cup, that’s what coach said after the game, fill our cup and come back ready to play tomorrow night.”
Millsap led the Hawks with a double-double of 24 points and 12 rebounds. They also got double figures from Jeff Teague (15 points), Pero Antic (13), Korver (12) and Shelvin Mack (10).
Korver moved into 22nd place on the NBA’s all-time 3-point field goal made list with his 1,500th long-range basket in the first half. Elton Brand played in his 1,000th NBA game.
The Hawks got off to poor start, especially defensively, as they fell behind by nine points and allowed the Pistons a 35-point first quarter. They would trail by 13 points in the second quarter. Coach Mike Budenholzer put the blame on his team’s lack of focus.
“I think the way we started tonight, we dug ourselves a hole,” Budenholzer said. “I guess at one point we were actually able to come back and take the lead but the energy and the effort it took to dig ourselves out of the hole that was created in the first quarter really, in a lot of ways, was the game. As a group, we need to have better focus to start a game. It wasn’t there.”
Several starters had a rough shooting night. DeMarre Carroll was 2 of 10, Antic was 4 of 13 and Korver was 4 of 16. The Hawks were a combined 6 of 17 from 3-point range.
The Pistons (29-49) won their second straight game. Rodney Stuckey led the way with a game-high 29 points. He hit the last six Pistons points from the free-throw line. The Pistons also got double-doubles from Greg Monroe, 21 points and 13 rebounds, and Andre Drummond, 19 points and 17 rebounds.
The Hawks used a 14-0 run in the third quarter and took their first lead of the game. Korver hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the run and the Hawks would take a four-point edge at 71-67. The Pistons answered and took an 81-78 edge into the final quarter.
The Hawks never led again.
Antic hit a pair of free throws to pull the Hawks to within two points, 92-90, with 3:33 left. The Hawks missed their next six shots. They didn’t score another field goal until Teague hit a layup with 21.3 seconds left. They missed another three shots to end the game.
In all, the Hawks were 1-for-10 from the field in the final 4:05.
“We didn’t come out with enough focus and energy at the beginning of the game,” Elton Brand said. “As we know, we can beat any team and lose to any team. We got off to a poor start and it was hard to fight back after that.”
The Pistons played without former Hawks Josh Smith due to left patella tendinitis.
The Hawks host the Celtics Wednesday – another game with playoff implications.
“Tough loss but tomorrow we have another game,” Carroll said. “It’s a big game. Now we put ourselves back into position where it’s a must-win.”
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