Hawks hope to snap funk in DC

Basketball Betting Lines

03/11/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Hawks hope to avoid a third straight loss when they wrap up a three-game road trip Thursday night against the Southeast Division-rival Washington Wizards at the Verizon Center.

Atlanta is winless so far on the trek and is coming off Monday's 99-98 setback at New York in which Josh Smith posted a team-high 25 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and handed out six assists. Al Horford did his best with 18 points and 12 boards for the Hawks, who have dropped two in a row since a four-game winning streak. Horford was unable to get off a possible game-winning shot as time expired.

"When I caught the ball, your instinct is just to shoot the ball. I wasn't aware of the clock, I didn't know what was going on. I just threw it up there," Horford told NBA.com "Obviously, it wasn't good but we had our chance."

Joe Johnson had 22 points and Sixth Man of the Year candidate Jamal Crawford posted 16 in defeat. Crawford leads the NBA in scoring among players that have not started a game.

The Hawks, who are 15-16 as the guest, fell four games behind Orlando for Southeast supremacy, but are tied with Boston for the third spot in the Eastern Conference standings. Both Atlanta and the Celtics have dropped two in a row since four-game win streaks.

Washington has lost four straight and opened a short homestand with Tuesday's 96-88 setback versus the Houston Rockets. Andray Blatche and Nick Young both netted 18 points, while Al Thornton ended with 15 points and nine rebounds for the Wizards, who are winless in their last four home games and 12-20 in DC.

"Their bigs outran our bigs," said Wizards head coach Flip Saunders. "We don't run as fast from offense to defense as defense to offense."

James Singleton added 12 points in the loss, Washington's sixth in its last seven tries. In 11 games since the All-Star break, Blatche has averaged 23.5 points and 10.4 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game.

Tonight's game is the third of four meetings between the Wizards and Hawks, as Atlanta holds a 2-0 edge and will visit Washington again on April 10. The Hawks have won the past seven matchups between the teams and are unbeaten in the previous four contests at the Verizon Center.

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