Atlanta ? Antoine Walker was so off-target that about the only shot he made was the one he was trying to miss intentionally.
Walker made the first of two free throws with 1.1 seconds left to pull Atlanta within two points of New Jersey, but had to miss the second to give the Hawks a chance to tie it off an offensive rebound. But the ball went in and the Nets held off the Hawks on Monday 85-84 to snap a four-game losing streak.
“You can’t miss a free throw too intentionally,” Walker said. “If you do, it’s a violation. You have to miss it a certain way. I tried to make it kick short off the rim, but it went in.”
Walker was 3-of-18 from the field and finished with 14 points.
“Antoine is an All-Star forward. Everyone has nights like that,” Nets coach Lawrence Frank said. “He’s hurt us in the past and we were fortunate that his shots didn’t fall today.”
New Jersey star Jason Kidd scored 19 of his 23 points in the second half.
But even with Kidd’s strong second half, and 23 points from Vince Carter, the Nets couldn’t put the Hawks away.
New Jersey made only 15 of 23 free throws, including 5 of 8 in the last minute.
Kidd’s 3-pointer gave the Nets a 77-72 lead, but the Hawks pulled even at 78 on two free throws by Obinna Ekezie with 1:33 left. A goaltending call against Josh Smith gave Carter a basket and the Nets an 80-78 lead with 1:14 left.
A free throw by Carter pushed the lead to 81-78, and Walker and Al Harrington missed 3-pointers for Atlanta with less than 20 seconds left. After Kidd made two free throws with 7.9 seconds left, Peja Drobnjak’s 3-pointer pulled the Hawks to 84-82.
Jason Collins made one free throw with 1.9 seconds remaining for an 85-82 lead. Walker grabbed the rebound after Collins missed his second free throw and was quickly fouled before making both free throws.
Kidd scored only four points in the first half on 2-for-8 shooting, including 0-for-4 on 3-point attempts.
“I continued to shoot it,” Kidd said. “The big difference in my game is that I normally would have stopped shooting the ball but I let it go and made it when it counted.”
Kidd found his scoring touch when he hit a 3-pointer with 9:15 left in the third quarter. He scored 11 points in the quarter and added two 3-pointers in the final five minutes.
The Nets, who snapped a seven-game road losing streak with a 95-90 win at Atlanta on Dec. 11, ended a five-game road losing skid Monday. The Nets are 3-0 against the Hawks this season.
Harrington led the Hawks with 22 points. Tyronn Lue had 17 points and 10 assists.
“We just have to figure out how to win some games,” Hawks coach Mike Woodson said.
Nenad Krstic, who had 12 points, and Jacque Vaughn fouled out for the Nets, who had only nine players in uniform.
