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.
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