The Hawks' fragile playoff psyche took another whack across the forehead Wednesday night at Philips Arena.

Despite steadying their leaky defense and battling closely the streaking Houston Rockets, Tracy McGrady was too much down the stretch.

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Houston's Rafer Alston shoots between Al Horford and Mike Bibby of the Hawks.

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After one tenacious possession on the offensive boards, the Rockets pulled away to post a 83-75 victory Wednesday, their 20th in a row.

The Rockets matched the 1970-71 Milwaukee Bucks for the second-longest winning streak in NBA history. The Rockets have a way to go to tie the league mark of 33 by the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers.

"You tip your hat to [the Rockets]," Hawks coach Mike Woodson said. "They are playing well."

With the defeat and New Jersey's victory over Cleveland, the Hawks (26-38) fell out of the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

The Hawks apparently left their Matador defensive capes in Orlando. They have allowed 100 points or more in nine of 13 games since the All-Star break.

Against the Rockets, they at least showed the type of defensive backbone that a playoff-bound team would be required to have.

The Hawks came out strong, unlike their previous outing when they allowed 74 points in the first half against the Magic. Wednesday's score was tied 18-18 after one quarter, and the Hawks led 33-32 at halftime.

The Hawks also allowed fewer 3-point shots, holding the Rockets to 6-of-29 shooting from behind the arc.

Their inspired play against the Rockets might indicate that the Hawks have seen the light. Woodson has been preaching that the only way to the playoffs will come from a more intense effort on defense.

"I thought our defense was terrific tonight," Woodson said.

"This team has been scoring a lot of points. We were pretty good defensively from beginning to end."

The Hawks continued to battle and were in position to pull off the victory after Joe Johnson made two free throws to make the score 71-70 with five minutes to play.

McGrady, who had seven points at halftime, finished with 28, including a huge 3-pointer to push the late lead to 11.

"Tracy took over at the end, he made a couple big shots for them," Woodson said.

The Hawks didn't receive much from the bench, which was outscored 23-4. But Woodson went with his starters for most of the game. Johnson and Mike Bibby played over 40 minutes, while Josh Smith (39) and Al Horford (37) were also close to the 40-minute mark.

Smith also pulled down a career-high 22 rebounds.

The Hawks sense their playoff push is on life support.

"We have to win on Friday," Smith said. "We can't keep giving games away."

Horford said, "We need some momentum one way or another.

"At this point, we just have to pull together and try to get it done."