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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME FLOW
ATLANTA (AP) -- Jason Terry was happy the Atlanta Hawks closed
the season with a victory. They already had enough defeats to fret
over.
"It was a big day for the Hawks," Terry said. "We're moving
in a positive direction."
Dion Glover scored a career-high 28 points and Terry added 27 as
the Hawks rallied from a 15-point fourth-quarter deficit to beat
the Washington Wizards 122-119 Tuesday night.
The Hawks finished with a 25-57 record, the worst in franchise
history.
"It was a tough season," said Lorenzen Wright, who finished
with 23 points. "Hopefully, next season we won't have the injuries
early. I think we have what we need. We are going to have a good
season next year. I guarantee it."
Atlanta was down 101-86 -- matching its largest deficit -- with
9:09 remaining when it went on a 19-0 run that culminated with
Terry's 3-pointer 2:47 later. The Hawks got four 3-pointers,
including three from Terry, as it made the sudden turnaround.
Terry scored 14 points on 5-for-6 shooting in the final period.
Brevin Knight, who handed out a season-high 13 assists, was
credited with seven in the fourth quarter.
"We really created some offense from the defense," Hawks coach
Lon Kruger said. "Of course, Brevin getting the ball to Jason, and
Jason making a lot of critical 3-pointers was huge for us."
Washington did not hold another lead, though Popeye Jones hit a
pair of free throws to tie it at 105 with 4:43 left.
Knight answered 14 seconds later with a 16-foot jumper from the
left wing that gave the Hawks the lead for good.
"It's frustrating to us," said Richard Hamilton, who led the
Wizards with 30 points. "If you look at most of the games we lost
this season, most of them were in the fourth quarter. We lost our
composure and started doing careless things, and that's when they
won and came back."
The Wizards, who have the second-worst record in the Eastern
Conference, got 25 points from Courtney Alexander. Washington has
lost eight of nine as it enters its season finale Wednesday against
the Toronto Raptors.
Nazr Mohammed added 20 for Atlanta, which has the third-worst
record in the East. The Hawks went 7-21 in their final 28 games.
"I credit the win to Brevin, Jason and Lorenzen," Glover said.
"They stepped it up defensively and got some steals. Those guys
are going to be the nucleus of our team next year. They stepped it
up, and we followed behind."
Game notes
Knight was ejected with 58.9 seconds left and the
Hawks leading by three points. He was assessed his second technical
foul, this one for arguing with Hamilton. ... Wizards starting
center Christian Laettner left the game in the first quarter with a
bruised left big toe and did not return. ... Last season, the Hawks
went 28-54, which stood as the worst record in franchise history.
... Atlanta had four players score 20 or more for the first time
this season.
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ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard
Washington Clubhouse
Atlanta Clubhouse
RECAPS
Toronto 94
Detroit 92
Atlanta 122
Washington 119
Miami 91
Milwaukee 89
Chicago 100
New Jersey 94
Philadelphia 111
Indiana 105
Houston 114
Minnesota 87
Utah 97
LA Clippers 92
San Antonio 99
Portland 93
LA Lakers 108
Denver 91
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