Kings of the road? Not this week.

The Charlotte Hornets started a three-game trip at mid-week with three chances to build on a hot streak that had produced nine road victories, more than any other team in the NBA. They took advantage of the first opportunity, then dropped two in a row, closing the journey Saturday with a 101-88, disappearing-act loss to Atlanta.

The night began well enough with the Hornets (12-15) parlaying a hot offense into a 14-point lead late in the first quarter. From there on it was all downhill, from the final three quarters of frustration in trying to conquer the Hawks' zone defense to a post-game scramble for the bus when Atlanta police learned of a bomb threat and hustled both teams and the few remaining fans out of Philips Arena.

It was a rare road performance for the Hornets. Since starting the season with a 1-3 away record, they reeled off victories in eight of their next 11 out of town. The eighth came Wednesday at Philadelphia.

Then came Friday and a well-played, narrow loss at Minnesota, followed by Saturday's flameout.

"We've been out here for a while," coach Paul Silas said of Charlotte's early-season overload of road games, "and usually we've either won or given ourselves a chance to win at the end. But these things happen.

"I told (the players) there's nothing we can do about this one now, but we've got to do as well as we can at home now with a lot of games coming up there."

The Hornets are 3-7 in the Charlotte Coliseum. They play there in their next game, Wednesday against Michael Jordan and the Washington Wizards.

By that time, perhaps the frustration over Saturday's loss will have disappeared. The Hornets got their early lead on the strength of guard play, with David Wesley's 13 points and Baron Davis' seven assists the primary building blocks in the rush to a 14-point lead.

They had more statistical balance by the end of the game, with Elden Campbell adding 17 points to Wesley's final total of 26 and Davis' of 19 points and a dozen assists. There was not enough help from other directions, nor enough patience in fighting Atlanta's zone, to pull out a victory.

"When they put the zone in we started standing around," Silas said. "All the things we know how to do against a zone, we didn't do."

The Hornets shot 27.3percent in the second quarter, opening the door for Atlanta's comeback. The Hawks outscored them 25-16 in the second and closed to within 46-44 at halftime.

Charlotte tried to find itself in the third, shooting 50 percent. It allowed the Hawks to hit 60percent, and four of Atlanta's nine field goals in the period came from three-point range. All four came in a two-minute span, with Dion Glover hitting three and Jason Terry one. When the barrage was done, the Hawks led 70-64.

The Hornets went scoreless in the first 4 minutes of the fourth period, Atlanta's advantage jumped to 17 and the suspense was gone.

"They got aggressive on us," Campbell said. "They shot the ball real well, got confidence and a little pep in their step and it was all downhill from there."