By Matthew T.F. Harrington

Rajon Rondo notched a triple-double, but the Sacramento Kings couldn’t complete a fourth quarter comeback in Atlanta Wednesday night to snap a three-game win streak. Rondo scored 12 points and DeMarcus Cousins netted a game-high 24 points but the Hawks (9-5) came away with the 103-97 victory at Phillips Arena to put coach George Karl even further under the microscope amidst talk of his disma.

The Hawks led by 11 points with 2:49 left in the game, but the Kings (4-8) went on a 9-0 run capped by Darren Collison’s three to bring the visitors down 99-97. The Hawks closed the game out with the final four points and the W in the win-loss column.

The Kings led 30-27 after the first quarter, but were manhandled by a Hawks offense led by Paul Millsap (23 points, 16 rebounds) and Al Horford (17 points) in the second quarter. At half-time, the Kings trailed 62-52. A strong third period (27 points for, 19 against) helped the Kings pull within two points 81-79 heading into the final 12 minutes.

As a team, the Kings went 38-for-86 from the floor, in line with their season average of 44.2 percent shooting. Led by point guard Rondo’s 12 rebounds and another 12 from Cousins, the Kings out rebounded their hosts 52-45. Sacramento turned the ball over 20 times, while Atlanta coughed the rock up only 11 times.

Rondo went 6 of 9 from the field for his 12 points, dropping 10 times to complete the triple-double. Kostos Koufos pitched in 13 points off the bench and starter Rudy Gay added 14 points of his own.

Sacramento travels further south for game two of a back-to-back to face the Miami Heat Thursday night in South Beach.