The Hawks will literally limp home from their lengthy road trip.
Playing short-handed the Hawks fell behind early to the Nuggets and could never fight all the way back. The result was a 104-88 loss Monday night at the Pepsi Center.
The Hawks lost for the third straight time to end the season-long trip after starting with three victories. They settled for a .500 road trip that began with so much promise.
“At the start of this road trip we started 3-0 and I told the guys after the Utah game that we had a chance to have an exceptional road trip,” coach Larry Drew said. “After we dropped the game in Phoenix the mindset was we still had a chance to have an exceptional road trip. It went from that to an opportunity for a great road trip if we came out with a win tonight. … We finished 3-3 so for us that would be a good road trip.”
The Hawks played with just 10 players as guards Kyle Korver (toe strain) and DeShawn Stevenson (back-to-back games) and center Zaza Pachulia (sore right Achilles) were all out. Rookie Mike Scott was on a D-League assignment. To make matters worse, Jeff Teague (left ankle sprain) and Ivan Johnson (dislocated left middle finger) missed some time in the first-half but returned.
The Hawks (33-26) were led by Al Horford with 18 points, snapping his streak of 20-plus point games at nine. He added 13 rebounds. Josh Smith and Teague added 15 points apiece and Devin Harris added 11 points.
Smith entered the game needing nine points to reach the 10,000-point mark for his career. He surpassed the milestone with a second-quarter layup, on which he was fouled. Smith became the 24th player in NBA history to record 10,000 points, 5,000 rebounds, 2,000 assists and 1,000 blocks.
Smith was given the game ball following the game, a gift he needed to be told of its significance.
“It’s a blessing to get that mark,” Smith said. “I just have to keep working hard. Hopefully I can accomplish more things in this league. I just have to stay healthy and stay positive.”
The Nuggets (39-22), third in the league in scoring, won their fifth straight and 11th in a row at home. Corey Brewer scored a game-high 22 points off the bench to lead the Nuggets. Ty Lawson added 18 points.
A 15-6 run by the Nuggets to start the fourth quarter ended any chance of a Hawks comeback.
“It was tough but more importantly I was proud of the guys who dress and come out to play,” Horford said. “It’s a long season and you deal with injuries. Guys came out and we fought. That is a really good team over there. We hung around but it was very overwhelming. They were very good on the fast break.”
The Nuggets led by as many as 16 points after starting the second quarter with a 19-4 run. They entered intermission with a 58-50 lead as the Hawks trimmed their deficit with an 11-0 run.
The Hawks took a 14-13 lead on a Smith 3-pointer with 5:59 left in the first quarter. It would be their last lead.
The Hawks got as close as two and four points at different times during the third quarter but the Nuggets pulled away each time. The Nuggets took an eight-point lead, 81-73, into the final quarter.
“We made a couple of mental mistakes at the end of the third and that took us out of everything,” Horford said. “We could have kept fighting but those couple of plays really dictated the game. In the fourth, they just kept pouring it on us.”
The Nuggets finished with 29 fast-break points, 17 came in the second half as they ran past the Hawks time and again.
“I saw guys who were certainly fatigued,” Drew said. “I didn’t want to put a lot of minutes on a lot of guys, particularly after we played last night. I was relying on the guys that we did have on the bench. But we did get a little tired, a little fatigued. Certainly coming into a building like this you can’t play tired.”
The Hawks were scheduled to travel back to Atlanta following the game to conclude the road trip. After an off day Tuesday, they host the 76ers Wednesday.
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