The Southern California sensibilities were not to be found.

Kings coach and Torrance native Paul Westphal wasn't laid-back, easygoing or anywhere close to a SoCal state of mind as he stood at the postgame podium. He gave short answers, stood rigid and allowed long pauses before addressing a number of questions about his team's 113-105 loss to Atlanta at Arco Arena on Wednesday.

No one else may expect much from his team, but he expected more.

"I told them (in the locker room), 'If I didn't think they were any good, I wouldn't be upset,' " Westphal said.

But he does. And he was.

Facing a team considered by most to be the best of the rest in the Eastern Conference, the Kings faded late in a game that had 27 lead changes and qualified as a second-consecutive capable outing.

Their offense came to a dysfunctional halt down the stretch, however, with the Kings scoring just 18 fourth-quarter points while misfiring on 16 of 22 shots. They had just one assist in the period, with shooting guard Kevin Martin not shooting until there were fewer than four minutes remaining as double teams and incessant isolation play tainted an otherwise impressive performance.

Hawks shooting guard Joe Johnson showed the Kings and the announced crowd of 11,751 how it was done, scoring 10 of his 26 points and hitting 5 of 7 shots in the fourth while Omri Casspi and Desmond Mason tried and failed to slow him. The Hawks shot 54.1 percent overall, with Jamal Crawford scoring 26 points off the bench.

"I've seen it smoother," Westphal said when asked about the fourth-quarter offense. "We were trying to spread the floor and attack the rim and take whatever we could get based on however they defended it. They were doubling (Martin) whenever he tried to handle the ball on pick-and-rolls and leaving anybody else because they were very concerned about him hitting shots.

"The primary problem in the fourth was we couldn't stop them. That's what I have to say about the fourth."

Coming off a 48-point game that was considered the best of his career, Martin scored 14 of his 29 points in the first quarter. He was a decoy more than a threat late, with Westphal spreading the floor for point guard Tyreke Evans late time and again.

With 1:21 left and the Kings trailing 108-103, Evans' runner was blocked by Al Horford while Martin stood in the left corner for the second consecutive possession. Martin was a gametime decision to play, having suffering a bruised left wrist against Memphis on Monday. He is expected to undergo an MRI on the wrist today.

"We had to get the ball moving and we had our chances at the end but we messed up," said Martin, who also had 11 rebounds. "We just have to learn from that."

Kings forward Jason Thompson had by far his best offensive game, but 18 of his 22 points came through three quarters before foul trouble and Hawks' defensive adjustments slowed him.

"In the fourth, we were trying to do four-down (play) for J.T., but Josh Smith got him in foul trouble and we stopped going to him," said Evans, who had 15 points on 7 of 21 shooting with four assists and two turnovers. "We stopped executing."

Considering the way the Kings billed Evans as the rare rookie who would be NBA-ready from the beginning, his slow start to this season was exactly what they didn't want. He hit 15 of 42 shots in the first four games, tallying just 14 assists against 10 turnovers while being slow to pick up the offensive tempo as Westphal repeatedly asked.

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