Surely, the Hawks can’t enjoy playing from this far behind.
But you might not know it.
The Hawks fell behind by 18 points, closed to within two, before dropping a 108-101 decision to the Wizards Saturday night at the Verizon Center. The loss came one night after the Hawks erased a 17-point deficit in a win over the Mavericks.
“I like the fight of our group,” Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said. “I like the character of our group. They are showing a will to find a way to stay in games. Obviously, we want to win them. I think there are things we need to clean up and things we need to work on and we’ll do that. But the character of our group is very high. I think you saw that again tonight.”
Budenholzer may like the fight in the Hawks but he can’t like falling behind by such large margins.
“Nope, that is a fact,” the coach said. “I don’t like falling behind by 17 or 18.”
The Hawks (9-9, 4-6 road) have lost four of their past five games, saved only be the dramatic win Friday.
The Hawks got to within two points, 81-79, after a Paul Millsap 3-pointer with 9:30 remaining. The shot capped a 9-2 run to start the final period.
However, the Hawks failed to execute down the stretch. After narrowing the gap, they committed two straight turnovers and Pero Antic missed a 3-pointer late in the shot clock. The Wizards pushed the lead back to eight and the Hawks could never fully recover.
The Hawks committed 17 turnovers in the game.
“It’s not a habit that we want to get in to as a team,” Al Horford said. “It takes too much energy, too much effort. We did it (Friday). Yeah, it was great. But we want to be playing well and we want to be ahead in games and finish them out. So, we have to make sure getting better at that.”
Millsap had 23 points to lead the Hawks, including four 3-pointers. Horford (16 points), Jeff Teague (15), Cartier Martin (12), DeMarre Carroll (11) and Shelvin Mack (11) were the other double-digit scorers.
The Wizards (8-9, 4-2 home) were led by John Wall with a game-high 26 points. He had a double-double with 12 assists. Trevor Ariza added 24 points and Martell Webster added 19 points as all five starters scored in double-figures. Ariza and Webster each had five 3-pointers as the Wizards made 12 of 24 from long range.
The Hawks fell behind by 18 points, 66-48, after the Wizards started the third quarter with a 12-4 run. The gap closed to just four points, 72-68, with a 20-6 run. The Hawks deficit was nine, 79-70, entering the final quarter.
The Wizards led by as many as 11 points in the first half and took a 54-44 advantage into the intermission.
The Hawks trimmed an eight-point deficit to one, 38-37, midway through the second quarter. The Wizards responded with a 13-3 run, including three 3-pointers, all after coach Randy Wittman got a technical foul for arguing a loose ball foul call on Ariza.
The Hawks struggled from the field in the first half as they shot 35.9 percent (14 of 39) and committed 10 turnovers. They were 28.6 percent (2 of 7) from 3-point range.
“We played terribly in the first quarter, the first half,” Millsap said.
Teague was injured with 2:59 remaining in the half while attempting a layup. Marcin Gortat was credited with a block as Teague went down and injured his left side. Budenholzer was hit with a technical foul for arguing the call. Teague suffered a rib contusion but did not miss significant time. The point guard said he was “all right” after the game, declining to elaborate.
“We play hard,” Teague said. “(Falling behind is) not because we don’t play hard. We are just not in a groove right now offensively. We are competing defensively. It’s not that at all. It’s just that we are missing shots. It happens when you go through those spells. At the beginning of the year we are scoring over 110 points back to back. We are just going through those times when it’s tough to score.”
The Hawks end the two-game road trip in San Antonio Monday.
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