Turnovers kill.
They sure did in the Hawks Saturday night.
The Hawks committed 21 turnovers, including 10 in a decisive third quarter, in a 79-76 loss to the Grizzlies at Philips Arena.
The Hawks rallied from a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit and got as close as three points when Paul Millsap hit a 3-pointer with 36 seconds remaining. The Hawks got the rebound of a Grizzlies miss on the ensuing possession with 15 seconds left. They did not immediately call a timeout and a deep 3-point attempt by Lou Williams as time expired missed.
Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer tried to call a timeout late in the possession.
“There were 15 or 16 seconds when we got the defensive rebound,” Budenholzer said. “We probed. We had a couple looks. I went to half court and I think I was as loud as humanly possible. The refs chose to ignore me and I didn’t get the timeout with four seconds left on the clock. It’s frustrating. I guess it was loud in there. That is what unfolded on the court. I wanted an early probe. I wanted a late timeout. I wasn’t granted the timeout.”
The Hawks (25-24, 16-9 home) have lost three straight and dropped both games of the season series with the Grizzlies.
Millsap led the Hawks with 20 points and 11 rebounds. It was the fourth straight game with a double-double for the All-Star. DeMarre Carroll added 16 points. Kyle Korver extended his NBA-record streak to 118 games with a 3-pointer.
The Grizzlies (27-22, 14-8 road) were led by Zach Randolph with 20 points.
The Grizzlies took a 61-54 lead into the final quarter after the Hawks managed just 11 third-quarter points. They ended the period on a 17-5 run that including three straight 3-pointers. Mike Miller had two of them, including the final at the buzzer. It gave the Grizzlies their largest lead of the game to that point.
“We can’t have droughts where we don’t score at all or quarters where we score 11 points,” Millsap said.
The Hawks had four fourth-quarter turnovers including three in the first three minutes as the Grizzlies built the double-digit advantage.
“Offensively, I think we’ve got to get to our pace and the way we want to play,” Budenholzer said. “It’s a credit to Memphis. They want to play a slow-down game. Against teams like Memphis and Indiana you have to value possessions. Every night we value possessions and 21 turnovers becomes difficult to overcome when the game becomes even slower and you lose out on possessions. They are always important but in a game that is played at a slow pace, turnovers become even more important.”
The Grizzlies were 1 of 1 from the free-throw line. It was the least number of free-throw attempts by an NBA team in the shot-clock era, according to STATS, LLC. The one free throw was a technical following a defensive three-second violation.
The Hawks also lost the game at the free-throw line as they made just 8 of 15 attempts.
“We did it to ourselves,” Carroll said. “We lost that game. We shoot 50 percent from the (free-throw) line and have that many unforced turnovers you aren’t going to win many games in the NBA.”
The Hawks led 43-37 after the team’s combined for 24 second-quarter points. The Grizzles were especially poor as they shot 22 percent (5 of 23) in the quarter. It tied a season-low for points in a quarter allowed by the Hawks. The Hawks shot just 32 percent (7 of 22) in the period. There was a 3:53 stretch of the quarter where only two points were scored.
The Hawks led by as many as 14 points in the first quarter on the strength of a 19-6 run. The Grizzlies answered with a 19-3 run to end the first and start the second quarter to take their first lead of the game, 31-29. They would score just six more points in the period.
“I think they made adjustments,” said Williams, who saw extended time at point guard. “They were playing inside and pounding the ball to the inside. They hit three 3-pointers in a row (in the third quarter) and our game plan goes out the window because now we have to guard the 3-pointer too. That was one of the things that changed the game. Once that happened, we probably got out of character a little bit.”
With Williams playing extended minutes at the point guard neither Shelvin Mack nor Dennis Schroder saw any action.
The Hawks are off until Tuesday when they begin a road back-to-back at the Bulls and Raptors before the All-Star break.
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