(Sports Network) - The Atlanta Hawks will try to snap a season-long, four-game
losing streak on Friday night when they welcome the Utah Jazz to Philips
Arena.
The Hawks lost three of these last four on the road, but two of those losses
came against teams well behind them in the standings, the Detroit Pistons and
Cleveland Cavaliers.
After a team meeting following a setback to the Boston Celtics, the second of
four consecutive losses, things haven't gotten much better. Despite the return
of Devin Harris to the lineup and a change to the starting five, the Hawks
fell to Cleveland on Wednesday.
Harris came off the bench, and so too did Lou Williams, sat in favor of Zaza
Pachulia. That meant the Hawks went big with Josh Smith sliding to small
forward, Kyle Korver to shooting guard and Al Horford to power forward.
It didn't work.
The Cavs squashed the Hawks, 99-83, as four Hawks scored in double figures,
but the defense was lacking. The Cavaliers shot 52.2 percent from the 3-point
line.
"Anytime you go through a bump in the road, you've got to look at your team
and try to find some answers," said head coach Larry Drew. "I've got to do
something to get this team jump-started again."
This is the second of three straight on the road for the Jazz, who got the
trek off on the right foot with a 112-102 victory Wednesday over the Charlotte
Bobcats.
That was the second straight win for the Jazz and fourth in five games.
Utah took a seven-point lead into the second quarter against the Bobcats, then
closed the second stanza with a 20-4 run. They were 19 ahead at the half and
never looked back.
"We executed tonight. I thought we got the ball inside and attacked the
basket," said head coach Tyrone Corbin. "Al (Jefferson) and Paul (Millsap)
went to the basket hard, but the passes they made to their teammates when they
got the double teams gave guys really good looks. We made the right plays
tonight and got great passes to guys cutting to the basket too."
Jefferson led the way with 26 points, while Millsap added 29. Four other Jazz
players (Gordon Hayward, Alec Burks, Derrick Favors and DeMarre Carroll)
scored in double figures.
The Jazz shot 54 percent from the field against Charlotte and 45.5 percent
from beyond the arc.
The Hawks have taken five of the last six against the Jazz, including a
139-133 decision that needed four overtime periods last March 25.
The Sports Network