Stotts Is a Winner in His Hawk Debut

Minutes after giving Jason Terry an earful for an untimely turnover, Coach Terry Stotts drew up a play for Terry to win the game.

It worked perfectly.

Terry scored on a fallaway jumper at the buzzer to give Stotts a victory in his debut as the Atlanta Hawks beat the San Antonio Spurs, 81-79, on Friday night at Atlanta.

Stotts, a longtime assistant who joined the team this summer, took over for Lon Kruger, who was fired Thursday.

“Amazing as it sounds, that’s the way I drew it up,” Stotts said. “You’ve got to love shooters. I’m glad this one dropped, because this team needed a confidence-builder. It’s been a rough stretch.”

After Tim Duncan tied the score with a hook from in close, Terry took an inbound pass with 4.3 seconds left and dribbled past Tony Parker and Bruce Bowen. He hoisted an off-balance, line-drive 18-footer just before the final horn, and the ball swished through.

Terry’s teammates mobbed him at halfcourt, and the referees immediately ruled the shot was good. They used a video replay afterward to officially count the basket.

“I got my head down a couple times and he came right to me,” Terry said of Stotts. “I made mistakes, but he stuck with me and showed confidence in me.”

And the final play?

“He drew it up. What can I say?” Terry said.

Portland 103, Utah 98 -- Scottie Pippen scored a season-high 23 points at Portland as the Trail Blazers won their sixth in a row.

Ruben Patterson scored 16 points for the Trail Blazers, who have their longest winning streak since winning 12 in a row last year. Pippen added eight rebounds and five assists, and Wallace nine rebounds.

Minnesota 113, Chicago 100 -- Kevin Garnett had his third triple-double of the season, and Radoslav Nesterovic scored a season-high 23 points at Chicago.

The Bulls’ four-game home winning streak, their longest in almost five years, came to an end.

New York 99, Houston 83 -- Charlie Ward scored all nine of his points during a key fourth-quarter run for the Knicks at Houston.

The Knicks used a 16-2 run early in the final period to open up an 82-62 lead, New York’s largest of the night.

Miami 90, Boston 70 -- Eddie Jones scored 28 points and Heat reserve Vladimir Stepania had 14 points and 14 rebounds at Miami.

The Celtics shot only 27.8% from the field, on 22-of-79 shooting from the field.

New Jersey 110, Milwaukee 90 -- Kenyon Martin got New Jersey going with two fastbreak dunks early in the third quarter and the Nets rolled to their 12th straight home win at East Rutherford, N.J.

Golden State 101, Toronto 96 -- Earl Boykins, Golden State’s 5-5 reserve guard, scored the final 10 points for the Warriors in the last 3:40, including six free throws in the final 30 seconds to finish with 16 points at Oakland.

Memphis 99, Orlando 86 -- Mike Batiste scored 13 points, including eight in the fourth quarter, as the Grizzly reserves led a fourth-quarter comeback at Memphis.

The Magic led by as many as 13 and held a 10-point lead early in the second half, but the Grizzlies reserves scored 11 straight to erase an early fourth-quarter deficit as Memphis took an 88-78 lead. Memphis’ starters remained on the bench the rest of the game.

Indiana 113, Cleveland 89 -- Reggie Miller made three three-pointers in a 56-second span of the third quarter to restore Indiana’s lead, and the Pacers rolled to a win at Cleveland.