Pat Riley fielded a few questions after Thursday's game but eventually walked away. He could analyze no more.

He didn't say much to his team after the game, either.

Riley had experienced 20 losses this season. But the 21st, a 100-96 loss to Atlanta, took the wind right out of him.

"Just when you don't think it can get any worse, it gets worse," Riley said.

The Miami Heat held an 18-point lead as late as the 1:37 mark of the third quarter against Atlanta. They played the best basketball they have played all season to that point. But they couldn't even hold onto that.

The Heat's season of misery hit its lowest point yet -- though it seems this team is capable of much worse -- when the Hawks came back to beat Miami at Philips Arena.

"We should be sick with ourselves right now -- each and every one of us. All the way down the line," center Alonzo Mourning said. "We should be sick with ourselves, sick with finishing games like this, sick with our individual performances at certain points in the game. We should be sick with it."

Miami was feeling just fine early. With the help of 11 fast-break points, the Heat played its best 12 minutes of the season in the first quarter to build a 35-16 lead, its largest lead since Nov. 6 last season.

But as early as the end of the second quarter, the Heat showed signs that they would let the Hawks back into the game. After leading 56-37 with 2:31 left in the half, Miami allowed Atlanta to close out the quarter on an 11-2 run to shrink the lead to 10.

"I said to them at halftime, that game's going to have to be in the 80s for us to win," Riley said. "We're going to have to hold them under 40 in the second half and we didn't do it."

The Heat managed to build the lead back up to 19 with 5:37 left in the third quarter. But once again the Hawks closed out the quarter strong with a 7-0 push in the final 1:49 of the period to stay within 11 heading into the fourth quarter.

In the fourth, it was just a matter of time. The Hawks continued to play a zone that troubled the Heat in the third quarter, and it silenced Miami's offense. The Heat's frustration carried over to the defensive end, as the Hawks wound up with several open shots.

"They just dissected us in the second half," forward Brian Grant said. "We didn't know what we were doing there in the last six to eight minutes."

Atlanta tied the score at 94-94 with 2:12 remaining on a Shareef Abdur-Rahim free throw. Dion Glover followed with a three-pointer with 1:16 left to give the Hawks their first lead since the opening seconds of the game.

Rod Strickland brought Miami back within one with a driving layup, but he couldn't contain Jason Terry on the other end, as the Hawks' guard scored to bring the lead back to three at 99-96.

On the Heat's ensuing possession, LaPhonso Ellis ended up with a desperate three-pointer that never came close.

"We let it go," Mourning said. "We were passive. We had the team down. Especially in our position, you can't afford to let a team back in a game. You've got to keep them down. You've got to have more of a desperate attitude and we didn't have one tonight."

A team that was 5-20 entering the game shouldn't have a problem with playing desperate. But such is the makeup of this Heat team. And it's obviously wearing on the coach.

"I got nothing else," Riley said as he walked away from reporters and back into the locker room after the game.

He may need to come up with something. After all, it could get worse.