NBA: Korver catches fire late as Hawks soar past Bucks

ATLANTA - Guard Kyle Korver scored seven of his 15 points in the final two minutes to help the Atlanta Hawks earn a 102-97 win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday (Friday, PHL time).

Korver made a three-pointer to give Atlanta a 90-89 lead, then hit an off-balance baseline jumper with 1:11 left to give the Hawks a five-point lead.

WINNER! We grind one out over the Bucks, using a 34-point fourth quarter to win 102-97. Jeff's 22 lead the way.

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) March 14, 2014

The win was the second straight for Atlanta, which had lost 14 of its last 16. The Hawks (28-35) posted consecutive wins for the first time since January 31 and February 1 (Feb 1. and 2, PHL time), and they recorded their sixth consecutive win over the Bucks.

Atlanta also got 22 points and eight assists from point guard Jeff Teague, who added an emphatic dunk with 27 seconds left that iced the game. Forward Paul Millsap scored 17, and forward DeMarre Carroll added 15 points. Millsap pulled a team-high eight rebounds.

Milwaukee (13-52) was led by forward Ersan Ilyasova, who had 22 points and 10 rebounds, and rookie guard Brandon Knight, who scored 20 points. Center John Henson and forward Jeff Adrien each scored 12.

The lead changed 15 times in the fourth quarter before Atlanta was able to take the lead for good on Korver's three-pointer with 2:15 remaining. Korver, who averages 12.2 points, averaged 19 over his past three games.

Milwaukee scored the first six points of the game, but Atlanta came back to catch and pass the Bucks at 15-12 on back-to-back three-pointers by Millsap and Carroll. The Bucks closed the period by scoring the final 10 points to take a 33-20 lead after one quarter.

The Hawks closed to within a point when guard Dennis Schroder made a four-footer to cut the lead to 35-34 with 8:24 left. But the Bucks responded by outscoring Atlanta 20-6 to take its largest lead at 53-40. Atlanta closed with a 7-0 run and cut the margin to 53-47 at intermission.

Milwaukee stretched its lead to 66-57 with 4:04 left in the third quarter before Atlanta staged a rally. The Hawks outscored the Bucks 11-1 and took their first lead of the game when guard Shelvin Mack scored on a fast-break layup with 35 seconds remaining to give Atlanta a 68-67 lead after three periods. - Reuters



The scores:

HAWKS 102 - Teague 22, Millsap 17, Carroll 15, Korver 15, Schroder 8, Antic 8, Brand 6, Martin 5, Mack 4, Scott 2, Muscala 0

BUCKS 97 - Ilyasova 22, Knight 20, Adrien 12, Henson 12, Middleton 8, Wolters 7, Sessions 7, Antetokounmpo 5, Pachulia 4

Atlanta          23-24-21-24
Milwaukee    30-23-14-30