ATLANTA (AP) – Reggie Miller was disappointed the Indiana Pacers didn't play harder in the second half Thursday night.

Miller considered the matchup with the struggling Atlanta Hawks to be a must-win. The effort wasn't there.

"We didn't make the stops down the stretch," Miller said. "In a high-intensity game like this, you have to be able to seize the moment. We didn't do that."

Miller scored 24 points to lead the Pacers, who dropped one game behind Boston for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference after the Celtics took a 106-104 win at Chicago.

"We had to play catch-up tonight," Miller said. "We usually have the other teams playing catch-up. The Hawks really came out in the fourth quarter and took charge of the game."

Jason Terry scored 28 points and Nazr Mohammed added 18 to help Atlanta end a four-game losing streak. The Hawks were winless since beating the Los Angeles Lakers on March 19 and had lost 16 of their last 19 games.

Indiana, which visits Boston on Friday night and Philadelphia on Sunday, last led with 41.3 seconds to go in the third quarter after Miller's 3-pointer from the right wing made it 74-72.

Jalen Rose and Jermaine O'Neal each scored 16 points for Indiana.

"There were two halves in this game," O'Neal said. "We played the first half but not the second half. That was the difference."

The Pacers, coming off a 110-102 victory at Washington on Tuesday, have lost eight of their last nine road games. Despite having the NBA's second-best defense against 3-pointers, Indiana allowed Atlanta to shoot 4-for-5 from beyond the arc and 12-for-23 overall in the fourth quarter.

Terry scored 11 points on 5-for-7 shooting in the fourth quarter. His 3-pointer with 3:15 remaining, immediately following Cal Bowdler's block of Miller's running jumper in the lane, gave the Hawks their first double-digit lead.

"The fourth quarter has been our Achilles' heel all year," Terry said. "With nine minutes to go, we said if we could get some stops we could win this game. It didn't look like they had a lot of energy down the stretch."

Toni Kukoc, who scored 10 points on 4-for-15 shooting, hit a 3-pointer 29 seconds later to give Atlanta a 101-87 lead.

"We're a young team, so sometimes in the fourth quarter we make mistakes," said Mohammed, who pulled down a game-high 15 rebounds. "I'm just happy to get out there. I didn't get a chance in Philly. Now I'm just happy to be on the court. It feels pretty good."

The Pacers missed their last three field goal attempts and failed to grab an offensive rebound.

"We went with our veterans down the stretch," Indiana coach Isiah Thomas said. "We just didn't get it done after the five-minute mark."

Game notes
Indiana point guard Travis Best, a candidate for the NBA Sixth Man award, was sidelined with a sore left heel for the second straight game. ... Atlanta forward Chris Crawford underwent season-ending surgery Thursday to remove bone spurs from his left ankle. A part-time starter who averaged 6.8 points and 2.3 rebounds, Crawford has not played since March 16 and has not been placed on the injured list.

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