Paul Millsap and Tim Hardaway Jr. gave the Hawks’ their best win of the season.
The duo combined for 61 points – and each had a huge offensive rebound off the other’s miss in overtime – as the Hawks snapped an 11-game losing streak to the Spurs with a dramatic 114-112 overtime victory Sunday night at Philips Arena.
Five observations from the win:
1. Hardaway Jr. had his best game as a Hawk. And maybe his career. The reserve guard matched his career-high with 29 points. He scored 11 straight Hawks points, including three 3-pointers with one to end the fourth quarter and two more to start overtime.
Hardaway hit a 3-pointer with 3.3 seconds left in regulation on an out-of-bounds play to tie the game at 100-100 and force the extra period. He also scored the Hawks’ first eight points of overtime as they built a four-point lead, 108-104. The Hawks also led 110-106 after two straight baskets by Dennis Schroder. However, the advantage was gone when Kawhi Leonard hit a 3-pointer with 34.3 seconds left and the game was tied at 112-112.
Millsap missed a corner 3-pointer with the shot clock about to expire. Hardaway got the offensive rebound and was fouled with 10.8 seconds left. After making the first attempt, he missed the second. Millsap to the rescue. He got the offensive board and Schroder would go to the free-throw line with 4.6 seconds left. Schroder made just one of his attempts to give the Spurs life, down 114-112 with 3.9 seconds remaining. Leonard missed a drive at the buzzer and the Hawks had a remarkable win.
“Any time you had that kind of streak, no matter what conference it’s from, it’s nice to beat somebody,” Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said. “I was there for a long time. A lot of things we’ve tried to bring here, the things that make sense and are smart. At the end of the day, it’s a game for our players.”
Hardaway finished 11 of 13 from the field, including six 3-pointers.
“When I was out there, the shots were falling,” Hardaway said. “I made that corner 3 off the deflection from Manu (Ginonbili) and Pau (Gasol) after they both fell on the floor, after that I just kind of got the momentum going.”
2. Millsap has been the Hawks best player all season. He proved it again Sunday. With the Hawks trailing by nine points, 70-63, late in the third quarter, Millsap scored the Hawks' next 17 points. His 11th and 12th points tied the game at 75-75. He started his personal run with back-to-back 3-pointers to end the third quarter and he added another in the fourth quarter for his 17th straight point.
Millsap finished with a double-double of a game-high 32 points and 13 rebounds. He had 15 fourth-quarter points. He did it while guarding Spurs’ star LaMarcus Aldridge. He played all 29 minutes of the second half and overtime.
With the Hawks within a point at 98-97 and with the ball, Schroder missed a drive to the basket. The Spurs rebounded and Leonard made a pair of free throws with 10.1 seconds remaining. Hardaway hit his game-tying 3-pointer before Leonard’s last-second shot circled the rim several times before falling away to force overtime.
“This win wouldn’t have happened without him,” Hardaway said of Millsap.
3. The Spurs entered the game as the NBA's leading 3-point shooting team (.410). The Hawks entered as the eighth-worst team in defending the long-range shot (.362). It was a possible recipe for disaster.
The Spurs were just 9 of 27 from 3-point range. However, they got four in the fourth quarter and overtime with Patty Mills, Tony Parker, Danny Green and Leonard connecting from long range.
4. The Hawks got caught in an early hole with some poor shooting to start the game. The Spurs led by as many as seven points as the Hawks shot 2 of 12 from the field to start the game. Troubling in the start was that five of the misses were layups.
The Hawks rallied and were 8 of 12 to finish the quarter. They used a 13-0 run to end the first and begin the second quarters to take a nine-point lead, 36-27. Korver (2) and Hardaway hit 3-pointers as part of the run. The Spurs erased the deficit and took a 46-44 lead into halftime.
5. The Spurs got Leonard back after he missed two games with gastroenteritis and defending the small forward was a key part of the Hawks game plan. Thabo Sefolosha got the early assignment of guarding the Spurs' leading scorer. The Hawks tried to match the assignment whenever Leonard was in the game.
Leonard had just five first-half points on 1 of 5 shooting in his 13 minutes. He finished with 13 points while shooting 3 of 12 shooting, including 1 of 6 from 3-point range.
