Hawks vs. Heat Final Score: Slide continues, Atlanta falls to Miami, 105-87

With an opportunity to win and jump back into the third seed in the Eastern Conference, the Atlanta Hawks instead continued to struggle with a 105-87 loss to the Miami Heat on Sunday.

The loss moved the Hawks down to sixth in the Eastern Conference standings.

Continuing a disturbing trend, Atlanta once again got off to an extremely slow start in Miami and was never able to recover. The Heat jumped out to a 27-13 lead late in the first quarter, and they would lever look back.

A Dennis Schroder layup to begin the second quarter cut the lead to 27-19. That 8-point deficit would be the closest the Hawks got to the lead for the remainder of the game. The only time the lead got back into single digits was when Tiago Splitter hit a hook shot late in the third quarter to make the score 71-62. An 11-2 run by the Heat would quickly widen that margin.

Miami and Atlanta continued to swap buckets for the majority of the fourth quarter until a late surge from the Heat put the game away and cleared the benches with two minutes left in the game.

Now losers of five of their last six games, the Hawks have suddenly found offensive woes that have knocked the team south in the Eastern Conference. The Hawks have failed to score more than 95 points in those five losses.

The team just shot 38.6 percent from the field on Sunday, including just 5-22 from beyond the arc. The 38 percent mark from the field is the sixth worst for the team this season, while the 22 percent mark from deep is the third worst. The Hawks are 0-9 when shooting under 41 percent from the field this season.

Atlanta also had a season-worst 13 assists in the game to go along with 17 turnovers. It's just the third time this season the Hawks have had more turnovers than assists, going along with the loss to the Clippers on Wednesday and the Dec. 28 loss to the Pacers.

Compounding with the offensive failures, the Hawks relatedly were crushed on the boards against the Hassan Whiteside-less Heat by a margin of 55-38. Atlanta managed just two offensive rebounds -- another season-worst -- compared to the Heat's 10.

The Hawks were led offensively by Al Horford and Paul Millsap as they both totaled 17 points in the game. Kyle Korver was 0-6 from the field. Point guard play left plenty to be desired once again against a Heat backcourt that ins't exactly quick. Schroder and Jeff Teague combined to shoot 7-23 from the field and 1-9 from beyond the arc. Teague did go 9-9 from the line, but he was in foul trouble for a large part of the game. Schroder was a +1 on/off for the game, while Teague was -14.

All in all, it was a very ugly effort from the Hawks in a key divisional matchup. The energy lacked throughout, and the shots continued to not fall -- even when they were largely uncontested. They will try to get things back under control in a SEGABABA on Monday night at Philips Arena against the Mavericks.