Hawks’ late-game rally falls short to Rockets

The Hawks may have had a historic win on Friday night in Charlotte with their 47-point win, but they couldn’t summon the same energy a little over 24 hours later.

On the second night of back-to-back games, the Hawks fell to the Rockets 121-114 in their home opener at State Farm Arena.

The game capped Saturday’s doubleheader, in which the Hawks aimed for their first home win after the Dream hosted Game 4 of the WNBA Finals.

Unfortunately, both of Atlanta’s professional basketball teams came up empty.

The Hawks gave themselves chances to complete their comeback. They forced some late turnovers when Amen Thompson threw an errant pass and the Rockets fouled Onyeka Okongwu on the inbound play.

The two free throws cut the Hawks’ deficit to 117-112.

Hawks’ Dyson Daniels then picked off an inbound pass from Reed Sheppard, which gave Jalen Johnson a point-blank layup that he missed. After an offensive rebound, Nickeil Alexander-Walker missed a 3-point attempt that would have cut the lead to two points.

Then they ran out of chances.

Quick stats: Johnson had 26 points, 9 rebounds and 16 assists, while Alexander-Walker had 18 points and 5 rebounds.

Sheppard had 19 points on 5-of-11 from beyond the arc and seven assists. Kevin Durant had 20 points.

Key moment

The Hawks never really controlled the game, but a 16-2 run late in the third quarter sparked hope that they could gain some heading into the final frame.

Trailing the Rockets 85-65 with just under four minutes to play, Johnson and Aaron Wiggins hit three consecutive 3s that cut the Hawks’ deficit to 14 with just over two to play.

Lu Dort sank the team’s fourth 3 in two and a half minutes, and Johnson made a couple of layups in the final 40 seconds that swung momentum the Hawks’ way. They managed to cut their deficit to 10 early in the fourth.

But the Rockets ran the score right back up.

Highlight play

The Hawks needed a burst of energy and they found it early in the third quarter with a transition play.

With 10:49 to play in the quarter, Johnson picked off an errant pass from Durant and saved it from going out of bounds. Johnson pushed the ball ahead to Alexander-Walker from half court.

Alexander-Walker gathered and went up for the dunk as Durant contested.