Abdur-Rahim scored eight of his 22 points in the fourth quarter and Jason Terry added seven of his 20 in the final four minutes as the Atlanta Hawks snapped a four-game road losing streak with a 113-109 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies.
Abdur-Rahim played five seasons with the Grizzlies before being traded to the Hawks over the summer for Lorenzen Wright, Brevin Knight and a 2001 first-round pick. Consequently, Abdur-Rahim's first game against Memphis was circled on the calender.
 Stromile Swift wasn't swift enough to stop Shareef Abdur-Rahim. Joe Murphy NBAE/Getty Images |
"I didn't want to lose, I'd be lying if I said differently," Abdur-Rahim said. "I think anybody in my situation would feel that way."
The trade was made on the condition that Atlanta draft Spain's Pau Gasol and send him to Memphis. Gasol played a large part in Abdur-Rahim's early struggles.
The rookie forward recorded two blocks on Abdur-Rahim in the opening quarter and held him to 3-of-11 shooting in the first half.
"They blocked a couple of shots on him that got his attention," Atlanta coach Lon Kruger said. "In the first half Gasol did such a good job defensively. But Shareef was going to keep playing. He comes right back after it."
"I was really jacked in the beginning and I think that hurt me a little bit," Abdur-Rahim said. "I just settled down. I was so hyper in the first quarter and first half but I was able to pull it in a little bit in the second half."
Abdur-Rahim scored six points in the third quarter and eight in the fourth, including six free throws in the final eight minutes. He made just 5-of-17 shots overall but sank 12-of-14 free throws and grabbed 13 rebounds for his fifth consecutive double-double.
Terry sank consecutive jumpers in a span of 46 seconds to give the Hawks a 104-99 lead with 3:01 left.
After Stromile Swift scored five straight points to tie it, Abdur-Rahim sank two free throws to put the Hawks ahead for good with 58 seconds to go.
Memphis rookie Shane Battier missed wide-open 3-pointer and Terry capitalized. Emanual Davis drove the lane and dished to a wide-open Terry, who nailed a 3-pointer from the left wing to make it 109-104 with 28 seconds remaining.
"I had (Grant) Long on me and what I wanted to do was clear it out and go 1-on-1," Terry said. "They zoned up behind him and luckily Grant just left. I was wide open. I knew it was good when it left my hand."
"There's not much difference in a game like that," Kruger said. "If we miss that shot and they go down and make a shot, then they play with the margin. That's how close games are decided, someone stepping up and making a big shot."
DerMarr Johnson scored a season-high 18 points and Toni Kukoc added 17 off the bench for Atlanta, which made 9-of-16 from the arc.
Battier scored 22 points and Jason Williams had 17 points, eight rebounds and seven assists for the Grizzlies, who have lost three straight games.
"I'm very disappointed in our play tonight," Memphis coach Sidney Lowe said. "I was extremely disappointed in attitudes. Guys were being very selfish and not ready to go back in the game. And when they did, they played passively. I haven't seen it from this team before. I was shocked and did not like it."
Swift collected 19 points and seven rebounds before fouling out and Long finished with a season-high 17 points.
Gasol scored just six points but had 11 rebounds and five blocks and Knight scored 16 points against his former team.