Hawks rally but fall short against Heat

After the Heat seemingly buried the Hawks in a 20-point hole, Atlanta staged a furious rally behind its reserves and tied the game late before losing 98-90 at Philips Arena on Monday night.

Miami's victory kept it in contention for the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference. Atlanta lost its season-high fifth game in a row.

After being locked into the No. 5 seed in the East, the Hawks gave lackluster efforts in weekend losses at Indiana and Washington. The Pacers are a marginal playoff team and the Wizards are among the worst teams in the East.

A visit from the Heat seemed to awaken Atlanta from its slumber.

"Especially the way they beat us here last time," Hawks guard Jamal Crawford said, referring to Miami's 105-86 victory on March 18 at Philips Arena. "They have a lot of momentum [after] beating Boston. We feel like we can get the momentum going towards the playoffs."

The Hawks seemed more focused and energized but couldn't overcome big games from the Heat's All-Star trio of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh or Miami's stifling team defense.

Atlanta's bench players gave it a shot, though.

The Heat twice led by 20 points in the third quarter and the Hawks came back once their starters took a seat. Forward Damien Wilkins scored on consecutive baskets to cap a 22-7 run that cut the Heat's lead to 84-81 with less than seven minutes to play.
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Hawks forward Josh Powell scored on back-to-back baskets to trim the lead to 86-85. After the Hawks failed to score on two offensive rebounds, Heat center Zydrunas Ilgauskas made two free throws followed by a score from Hawks center Zaza Pachulia.

As Pachulia ran back down the court, Ilgauskas threw the ball at his back. Officials ejected Ilgauskas and Crawford made the technical foul shot to tie the game at 88-88 with 3:28 to play.

But the Heat had a stronger finishing kick. James Jones converted a four-point play and made another 3-pointer and James scored on a free throw and basket to push Miami's lead to 98-90.

James, Wade and Bosh combined to outscore the Hawks 49-46 in the first half and finished with 70 points. Atlanta starters Kirk Hinrich, Joe Johnson and Al Horford combined for just 18 points and 6 of 22 shooting in 66 minutes.