Vaughn drained a jumper with three seconds left as the Hawks rallied for an 89-97 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers, who dropped their sixth straight.
Atlanta had trailed by as many as nine points in the final quarter as Allen Iverson had a strong return after missing a pair of games with a sprained right thumb.
 Jason Terry demonstrates how the Atlanta Hawks really fly. Scott Cunningham NBAE/Getty Images |
Terry found a wide-open Vaughn on the left wing, and Vaughn, who missed his first 22 shots this season, calmly drained his jumper.
"There was no need to rush," Vaughn said. "I had squared myself, I remembered the first shot I took in the first quarter, the same thing. I squared myself, I had time, why rush it?
"The play was designed for me," Terry said. "Once they did get it to me, I got it to the man who was wide open. I mean, nobody was near him and he made a big shot."
The Sixers went to Iverson on their final possession but his jumper from the right wing was off the mark. Iverson led Philadelphia with 34 points but had just six on 3-of-7 shooting in the final quarter as the Hawks repeatedly forced the ball out of his hands.
"When those guys double, I just try to look for the open man," Iverson said. "They doubled way more in the fourth quarter. They were doubling as soon as I touched the ball. Coach was telling me as soon as I got the ball to get it out of my hands as quick as possible when they doubled."
Philadelphia's losing streak is its longest since it dropped seven straight from January 24-February 4, 1998.
"They made some big shots," Sixers coach Larry Brown said. "We had about three or four plays we didn't finish inside which resulted in opportunities for them."
Matt Harpring, who played collegiately at Georgia Tech, had a pair of baskets in an 8-0 run as Philadelphia took a 61-54 lead with 4:46 to go in the third quarter.
Iverson scored with 7:34 left in the game for a 79-72 lead but Atlanta came through with a 13-2 spurt, featuring back-to-back layups by Terry for an 85-81 lead with just under three minutes to play. An airball by Iverson preceded Terry's second layup.
"This team has been in games all year long," Terry said. "To finish them off in the fourth quarter where we have been having problems all year long, it is big for the confidence."
Harpring nailed a jumper with 77 seconds left to tie the game at 85-85 before Shareef Abdur-Rahim scored on a runner 24 seconds later. Iverson used a screen from Corie Blount to drill a 20-foot jumper with nine seconds remaining, setting up Terry and Vaughn's heroics.
Abdur-Rahim made 8-of-12 shots for 19 points and 11 rebounds and former Sixer Toni Kukoc added 13 points. The Hawks snapped a nine-game losing streak to Philadelphia since a victory on March 27, 1999.
"Obviously, I feel really good for the guys," Atlanta coach Lon Kruger said. "They really battled again in the fourth. They just hung in there and hung in there and a lot of different guys made plays."
Dikembe Mutombo collected eight points and 15 rebounds in his first game back in Atlanta since being traded to the Sixers on February 22. Harpring finished with 15 points for Philadelphia, which allowed 23 fast-break points.