And, he was quite perceptive. No one bothered to show up for the Hawks’ 104-101 victory over Cleveland. Officials announced there were 14,061 fans in Philips Arena, but in actuality, there might have been half that number. The Hawks, who had lost nine in a row and 22 of their last 26 heading into last night’s game, shot 52.7 percent from the field and dominated the boards, 47-34. Center Dikembe Mutombo outrebounded the entire Cleveland front line by himself (18-17). “We played about nine minutes in the first half,” Cavs coach Randy Wittman said. “Then we coasted. In the third quarter, we were non-existent.” The Cavs (31-49) faced a 15-point deficit, 91-76, with 8 minutes, 3 seconds left in the game after a 15-foot jumper by Bimbo Coles. Seconds later, Cavs power forward Shawn Kemp picked up his fifth personal foul. Still, Cleveland didn’t pack it in and kept chipping away at Atlanta’s lead. Forward Roshown McLeod’s 18-footer with 1:56 remaining handed the Hawks a 10-point lead. The Cavs proceeded to rip off nine unanswered points and probably should have tied the score with 8.4 seconds left. Trailing 102-100, Earl Boykins deflected a pass, which ended up in the hands of Kemp in the lane. Boykins, though, had to wait on his high-arcing, fullcourt pass. Instead of going in for a layup, which would have tied the score, he passed to Bob Sura, who was fouled. He split the two free throws, which left the score 102-101. “The pass was in the air so long, I couldn’t find (defender Dion Glover) when I looked over my shoulder,” Boykins said. “If I could have found him, I think I could have shielded him off with my body. I couldn’t locate him, so I got the ball to Bobby.” On Atlanta’s final possession, Coles sank two free throws for a three-point advantage with 7.6 seconds left. Needing for a 3-pointer to send the game into overtime, Sura (18 points, but 1 of 6 from behind the arc) unloaded on a wild prayer that had no chance of going in. He whined about being fouled by Coles, but official Eddie F. Rush didn’t blow his whistle. The final play was designed to go to Wesley Person, but he wasn’t open. “We’re in a pretty good groove right now,” Atlanta point guard Jason Terry said. He’s quite observant. The Hawks are now 1-8 in the month of April. In their nine-game losing streak, they had been outscored by 176 points. That was until the sad-sack Cavs flew into town. Atlanta coach Lenny Wilkens, who could possibly find himself unemployed by the end of the week, didn’t think the Hawks (27-53) would cruise. “Why make it easy?” Wilkens said. “It hasn’t been easy all year.” Cavs forward Danny Ferry surpassed Bingo Smith for the franchise record for games played with 721. “It wasn’t a big distraction because I didn’t pay a lot of attention to it,” he said. “It is nice to be a part of Cavs’ history. It would have been nice if we had won the game.” During Ferry’s 10 years with Cleveland, he’s played with 75 different players and three different coaches (Wilkens, Mike Fratello and Wittman). Despite all his experience, he’s confounded by the 1999-2000 Cavs. “It’s hard to figure out (what went wrong),” he said. “Sometimes we have the illusion — and I don’t know why — that we’re better than we really are. Obviously, it’s a mistake.
