Two overtimes double trouble By SEKOU SMITH The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published on: 03/16/06 New York — A wicked dose of their own medicine is what did the Hawks in this time. The 'Nothing to Lose' mantra the Hawks have played with for weeks was turned on them by the New York Knicks' reserves, who scored 77 points in a thrill-a-minute 121-117 double-overtime loss at Madison Square Garden. The Hawks squandered chance after chance to put the Knicks away after rallying from a double-digit deficit and losing one of their own before the extra sessions. "We lost when we had that lead and [Knicks coach Larry Brown] put those subs in, they came in with some energy that we really hadn't played with the whole night," said Hawks guard Joe Johnson, who torched the Knicks for a game-high 36 points but missed on his final shot in regulation that could have won the game and his final two shots that would have given the Hawks a lead or tied the game late in the second overtime. "Nate Robinson is the leader of the pack. The energy they brought off that bench, it hurt us. We gave them some confidence, allowed them to make some plays and from there on it was a battle. "We had the game in our hands many a times. And at the end, we got careless with the ball and had too many mistakes when the game was on the line. We didn't take care of the ball when the game was on the line and it got us beat." The Hawks (20-42) are now of losers of three straight games, a nasty blight for a team that's been surging since last month's All-Star break. But as Johnson said, they have no one to blame this morning but themselves. Brown benched his regulars in favor of his young reserves in the second half and stayed with them the rest of the way. Robinson (18 points, six assists), Jamal Crawford (21 points) and Qyntel Woods (18 points) inflicted the most damage for the Knicks (18-45). The damage the Hawks did to themselves, however, was far more pronounced. They had two costly turnovers on two of their last four possessions during the second overtime and handed over a total of 24 points off of their 24 turnovers on the night. "We'd have rather played against their starters than those subs tonight," said Hawks co-captain Al Harrington said after his 28-point, nine-turnover, six-rebound performance. "They played with an attitude of nothing to lose and it's always tough playing against a team like that. We know that better than anybody. Even with as well as they played, though, we had too many self-inflicted mistakes, I had nine of them, that really did us in." As good as the Hawks had been this season in overtime games (4-1), it's been a while since they played two of them. Their last double-overtime game was March 29, 2004, a 136-133 home loss to Memphis. They were in dire straights from the start Wednesday night, with nearly their entire frontcourt rotation in foul trouble by the start of the fourth quarter. They lost Zaza Pachulia early in the second overtime but not before he dropped a career-high 26 points and nine rebounds on the Knicks' seemingly endless supply of big men. But no other Hawks player reached double figures and the bench was outscored 77-17. "It's not like we aren't doing the right things," Hawks forward Josh Smith said. "They didn't beat us, we beat ourselves. It's just like [Hawks coach Mike Woodson] said, we have to find a way to put the hammer on people and finish games off. Because we're playing hard and we're playing together." 資料來源 http://www.ajc.com/hawks/content/sports/hawks/stories/0316hawks.html --

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