Video: Pierce Talks Loss to Kings

The Hawks dropped their second straight -- and fifth overall -- game on Friday night, falling 121-109 to the feisty and blazing hot Kings. Sacramento, in search of much-needed rhythm and momentum, played like the more desperate team and hit nearly all of the easy shots the Hawks conceded them.

De'Aaron Fox applied constant pressure to Atlanta's defense and the rim, which resulted not only in two spectacular dunks, but a barrage of 3-pointers from Buddy Hield, Trevor Ariza, and Bogdan Bogdanović. When the Kings took a 63-47 lead into halftime, they appeared well on their way to an easy victory.

But such things seldom occur in the NBA, and the Hawks had an answer. Trae Young scored 16 points in the third quarter, which served to compromise Sacramento's defense and free his teammates to inflict damage of their own. Jabari Parker notched 25 points -- his fourth consecutive game over 18 -- while Kevin Huerter broke out of an early-season slump to pitch in 17 on 6-of-10 shooting.

"We wanted to attack, have that attack mentality offensively," Lloyd Pierce said. "And we didn’t have it in the first half for some reason. But it was good to see the fight in the third quarter and most of the fourth quarter."

But when the game turned back toward the Kings, Atlanta had seemingly used up all of its firepower. Sacramento got a handle on Young, which quelled the Hawks' entire offense, and a crucial sequence of two King 3s and two Hawk turnovers midway through the fourth slowed Atlanta down for good.

"It takes so much just to get back in the game, you can’t put yourself in a hole in the first half," Pierce said. "We were playing decent basketball, but we didn’t have that sense of urgency.

"We didn’t have the urgency to finish it off."