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The beat goes on for the Atlanta Hawks who dropped their 19th straight game in San Antonio with a 107-99 loss to the Spurs.
Atlanta got off to a good start jumping out to an early 8-2 lead. San Antonio closed the first quarter strong however behind the strong play of Kawhi Leonard. The Spurs ended the quarter with a 14-3 run to take a 28-18 advantage. Leonard scored 11 of his game-high 31 points in the first quarter.
San Antonio kept the pressure on in the second pushing the lead to as many as 15 points while the Hawks started slow offensively. Atlanta finally found a rhythm late in the second behind Dennis Schroder who scored 10 of his 22 points in the period. The Spurs took a 54-43 advantage into the break.
San Antonio was able to keep the Hawks at arms length for most of the third quarter before Atlanta finally started to chip away at the lead. A pull up jumper by Thabo Sefolosha at the 1:53 mark cut the deficit to 74-71. However, the Spurs would answer with a 7-2 spurt to close the quarter and would lead 81-73 heading into the fourth.
Atlanta continued to push the Spurs in the fourth but San Antonio seemed to always have an answer. Taurean Prince scored to cut the lead to a single point with 8:08 remaining. The Spurs answered with a three-pointer on their next trip. Tim Hardaway Jr. pulled them back within two a possession later but San Antonio answered with five straight points to push the lead back to seven. The Hawks wouldn’t seriously threaten again as Leonard connected on four straight free throw to seal the victory.
Atlanta shot 46 percent for the game but were just 6 of 22 from three-point range and 19 of 30 from the free throw line. Schroder’s 22 led the way while Hardaway added 17. Paul Millsap notched 16 points.
San Antonio shot 48 percent for the game and were 16 for 34 from the three-point line. The Spurs did turn the ball over 23 times which led to 21 points for the Hawks.
The loss snaps Atlanta’s three-game winning streak. The Hawks will be back in action on Thursday when they host the Memphis Grizzlies at Philips Arena.