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Tuesday, March 20, 2001
Hawks soar past Lakers, 107-102
Beleaguered Atlanta franchise topples defending champion Los Angeles in front of sellout crowd
By Paul Newberry
Associated Press
ATLANTA - Jason Terry scored 36 points and the Atlanta Hawks held off the Los Angeles Lakers 108-106 Monday night when Kobe Bryant missed a shot at the buzzer.
Brevin Knight hit the go-ahead jumper with 1:30 remaining and Toni Kukoc followed with a huge 3-pointer to give the Hawks a 107-102 lead.
Bryant, who scored 27 points, connected on a short shot along the baseline in the final minute before Rick Fox converted a layup with 7.6 seconds to go after a Terry miss.
The Lakers fouled quickly, and Terry gave the defending NBA champions a chance by making only one of two free throws.
Bryant got the ball at the top of the key with a good look at the basket, but his jumper bounced off the back of the rim and the horn sounded while the teams scrambled for the rebound.
Terry slapped hands at courtside with Atlanta rap producer Jermaine Dupri, who was wearing the player's No. 31 jersey, while the rest of the sellout crowd of 19,707 celebrated as if the Hawks had won the title.
The Lakers' four-game winning streak ended and they dropped into a tie for the Pacific Division lead with Sacramento.
It was the largest crowd for a sports event in Philips Arena history and only the second sellout crowd of the season for the Hawks, who won for only the third time in 16 games.
Atlanta beat the Lakers for the first time since the 1996-97 season and also won for the first time this year with an opponent scoring 100 points. The Hawks were 0-17 until Monday.
Shaquille O'Neal also scored 27 points for the Lakers. He managed to hit 9-of-12 free throws with the Hawks employing the "Hack-a-Shaq" strategy to the fullest; Both Nazr Mohammed and Lorenzen Wright picked up five fouls trying to guard the Los Angeles center.
All five Lakers starters scored in double figures and the team shot 50 percent (39-of-78) from the field.
But Los Angeles was shaky at the defensive end. Terry connected on five 3-pointers, while Kukoc added 26 points while hitting four treys.
A NOTES: Wright was activated from the injured list after the morning shootaround. He missed four games with a sprained right thumb. . . . The "Kisscam" segment, in which fans are encouraged to kiss each other as they're shown on the video board, ended with a superimposed picture showing O'Neal and Bryant together. . . . Isaiah Rider, who had one trouble-filled season in Atlanta, didn't play for the Lakers.
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© 2001,
a Scripps Howard newspaper. All rights reserved.
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