ATLANTA, Dec. 10 (Ticker) -- There are 1,230 games in the NBA regular season. It is almost certain that none will have a final score more surprising than this.

The league-worst Atlanta Hawks ended a seven-game losing streak with a mind-boggling 94-84 victory over the defending NBA champion San Antonio Spurs, who had a six-game winning streak snapped.

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Josh Childress scored 11 of his 13 points in the fourth quarter for Atlanta (3-16), which was double-digit underdogs on its home floor, having lost by 24 points at San Antonio three weeks ago as part of a season-opening nine-game slide.

The Hawks limited superstar Tim Duncan to 12 points on 5-of-14 shooting and forced the Spurs (16-4) to miss their last nine shots over the final five-plus minutes.

"I hope this was a learning lesson for our young guys," Hawks coach Mike Woodson said. "Our defense was on the money. We moved the ball. We made shots when we had to make them. It was fun to watch."

During last year's NBA Finals, Woodson brought Childress and fellow swingman Josh Smith to the NBA Finals to watch the Spurs. On Saturday night, that move paid dividends as Childress scored seven points in a 13-2 surge early in the fourth quarter that gave Atlanta the lead for good at 84-76 with 7:08 to go.

The second-year forward with the funky jump shot added a layup a minute later to keep the lead at eight points.

"The thing I learned most (at The Finals) was that they stay as a team," Childress said. "They were a unit. Everybody was moving the ball, everybody was sharing. That's how you have to play. That's how we played tonight. That's how we've played in our three wins."

The Spurs closed to 88-81 before Childress drilled a jumper with 1:49 to play. A scoop shot by Al Harrington and four free throws by Tyronn Lue in the final minute sealed the improbable win.

"It was a good win for us," Lue said. "Anytime you can go out and beat the world champs, there's no excuse for the way that were losing seven or eight in a row. That should never happen. I think this is a big win for us. We beat a good Indiana team and we beat San Antonio. I think we believe we can beat anybody in this league."

It looked like the Spurs would coast to an easy victory as they took a 41-27 lead with 5:38 remaining in the second quarter on an easy layup by Duncan. But powered by eight points by Joe Johnson and five points by Harrington, Atlanta went on a 15-7 run to end the half and cut the deficit to 48-42.

"It gave us confidence that we were able to stay around early," Harrington said. "We played hard and go it done. We played the game for 48 minutes and a great thing happened we beat the world champs."

After Manu Ginobili opened the second half with a bucket for San Antonio, Atlanta scored seven of the next eight points to climb back in the game before taking control in the fourth quarter.

"The Hawks did a great job tonight," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "They had a lot of energy and played really physical basketball. They just kept coming at us and we couldn't match their energy."

Johnson scored 22 points and Harrington added 11 points and 11 rebounds for the Hawks, who have won just three of their last 22 home games dating to last season.