A buzzer-beating shot made Terry Stotts look like a tactical genius in his NBA coaching debut.
Jason Terry, who had a turnover minutes earlier, hit a fallaway jumper at the buzzer to give the Atlanta Hawks an 81-79 home victory over San Antonio on Friday night.
"Amazing as it sounds, that's the way I drew it up," said Stotts, who replaced the fired Lon Kruger on Thursday.
After Tim Duncan tied it for the Spurs, Terry took an inbound pass with 4.3 seconds left, hoisted an off-balance, line-drive 18-footer just before the final horn, and the ball swished through.
``He drew it up. What can I say?'' Terry said.
The referees immediately ruled the shot was good, and used a video replay to officially count the basket.
``I made mistakes, but he stuck with me and showed confidence in me,'' Terry said.
Stotts, a longtime assistant who joined the Hawks this summer, openly chastised Terry for an over-the-shoulder pass that led to a turnover in the fourth quarter. With a time-out coming and a foul called on Glenn Robinson, Stotts glared at Terry and met him on the court, sternly talking into his ear.
Terry, who finished with 13 points, bounced back from the mistake minutes later with his winning shot.
``You've got to love shooters,'' Stotts said. ``I'm glad this one dropped, because this team needed a confidence-builder.''
Shareef Abdur-Rahim had 27 points and 11 rebounds for the Hawks, who won for only the second time in eight games.
Stotts also made a change to the starting lineup, replacing Ira Newble with Mike Wilks, who signed with Atlanta on Tuesday, at point guard. Wilks had seven points and four assists.
Duncan scored 20 of his 27 in the first half for the Spurs, who shot only 44 percent against one of the NBA's worst defensive teams.
``It was an ugly game,'' Spurs guard Stephen Jackson said. ``They were ready to play. I don't know if it had anything to do with the coach or not.''
Timberwolves 113, Bulls 100
At Chicago, Kevin Garnett had 25 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists for his third triple-double of the season, and Radoslav Nesterovic scored a season-high 23 points for Minnesota.
It was the Timberwolves' seventh straight victory over the Bulls, whose four-game home winning streak was stopped.
Heat 90, Celtics 70
In Miami, Eddie Jones scored 28 and reserve Vladimir Stepania had 14 points and 14 rebounds.
They helped the Heat beat Boston for the second time in nine days.
Paul Pierce had 19 points and Antoine Walker 16 as the Celtics shot a franchise-worst 27.8 percent (22-of-79) from the field .
Nets 110, Bucks 90
At East Rutherford, New Jersey, Kenyon Martin got New Jersey going with two fast-break dunks early in the third quarter and the Nets rolled to their 12th straight home victory.
Lucious Harris scored a season-high 25 points, and Martin added eight of his 21 points in the big third quarter as the Nets won for the 17th time in 18 home games.
Former Nets guard Sam Cassell had 25 points for the Bucks.
Knicks 99, Rockets 83
At Houston, Charlie Ward scored all nine of his points during a key fourth-quarter run for New York.
Latrell Sprewell had 21 points and Allan Houston 20 for the Knicks, who used a 16-2 run early in the final period to open up an 82-62 lead, New York's largest of the night.
Steve Francis had 27 points, while Yao Ming added 17 as the Rockets lost their season-high third in a row while shooting a franchise-low 29.5 percent.
Pacers 113, Cavaliers 89
At Cleveland, Reggie Miller made three 3-pointers in a 56-second span of the third quarter to restore Indiana's lead.
Ron Artest and Al Harrington each scored 23 points and Miller added 17 in 23 minutes for the Indiana Pacers, who were again without leading scorer Jermaine O'Neal.
Zydrunas Ilgauskas scored 21 points for the Cavaliers, an NBA-worst 6-25.
Grizzlies 99, Magic 86
At Memphis, Tennessee, Mike Batiste scored 13 points, including eight in the fourth quarter, as the Grizzlies' reserves led a fourth-quarter comeback.
Gordan Giricek scored 18 points to lead Memphis.
Tracy McGrady, who scored 46 against Detroit on Wednesday night, led Orlando with 35 points.
Suns 108, Clippers 95
At Phoenix, Stephon Marbury scored 26 points and rookie Casey Jacobsen added a career-high 19 as the Suns won their fourth in a row.
Shawn Marion, averaging 20.6 points and 10 rebounds, was helped from the court after spraining his left ankle with 10:59 left in the third quarter. X-rays were negative, but he did not return.
Trail Blazers 103, Jazz 98
At Portland, Oregon, Scottie Pippen scored a season-high 23 points and Rasheed Wallace added 19 as the Trail Blazers pushed their winning streak to six game.
Ruben Patterson added 16 points for the Blazers, who have their longest winning streak since winning 12 in a row last season.
Warriors 101, Raptors 96
At Oakland, California, Troy Murphy had 19 points and a career-high 16 rebounds, and Gilbert Arenas had 22 points, eight rebounds and six assists for Golden State.
Earl Boykins, Golden State's 5-foot-5 reserve guard, scored the final 10 points for the Warriors as they snapped a two-game losing streak.
The loss was the Raptors' fifth straight, and ninth in 10 games.
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