Puzzling defeat is another step back

Home loss to Magic continues pattern of ups and downs.

Two steps forward, one step back.

Two steps back, one step forward. The rumba? No. That’s the best way to summarize the Hawks’ season through 25 games.

The Hawks (12-13) are again below .500 after a peculiar 131-120 home loss to the Magic on Tuesday night. The Magic entered the game 29th in the NBA at 94.8 points per game. Yet they hung the highest point total against the Hawks since the Warriors scored 137 on March 4, 2008.

“I don’t know exactly how I would describe it, but there is some level of frustration,” Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said. “There is some level of optimism. I do think we are doing some things better. We need to do more things better for more of the 48 minutes.

“I would say there was a stretch when offensively, we were really, really struggling. We have taken two steps forward there. Maybe we have regressed defensively. We have to be moving forward with both.”

The Hawks started 9-2. They have lost 11 of 14 since, including a seven-game losing streak. They entered the game against the Magic with a two-game win streak.

Budenholzer and several players insisted that the loss to the Magic was an anomaly, a blip on the radar where a team got hot and little could be done. The Magic shot 60 percent from the field and 44 percent from 3-point range.

The Magic averaged 8.4 3-pointers made and 25.1 3-pointers attempted before facing the Hawks. They were 15 of 34 on Tuesday. The Hawks took particular notice of Magic guard Elfrid Payton, who entered the game shooting 20 percent from 3-point range but went 3 for 3.

Kent Bazemore said the plan was to sag off Payton defensively at the 3-point line. Without naming Payton, Hawks reserve Kris Humphries said the team did not alter its approach when necessary.

“You can’t always play according to somebody’s 20 percent 3-point average,” he said. “If they get it going, you have to make adjustments.”

The Hawks have a challenging upcoming schedule. They play at the Raptors on Friday, a team that beat them by 44 points less than two weeks ago. They come home to play the Hornets on Saturday. There is a trip to the Thunder on Monday before two games against the Timberwolves and games against the Nuggets, Knicks and Pistons to end the month.

“We definitely had a lot of steps forward to start and then a lot of steps back,” Humphries said. “Then a comeback win (over the Bucks) for a step forward. I think you have to look at the next seven games and gauge if our momentum is going the right way and judge how we are playing. Sometimes, a game like (Tuesday’s loss) is hard to judge where you are at. The way they played, they would have beaten anyone in the league.”