A recap of the Hawks’ 109-97 win over the Rockets Saturday:
Noteworthy
* The Hawks have won six straight against Western Conference teams.
* The Hawks had six double-digit scorers in Al Horford (22), Tim Hardaway Jr. (20), Dennis Schroder (14), Kyle Korver (11), Paul Millsap (11) and Thabo Sefolosha (10).
* Millsap had his 25th double-double with 10 rebounds.
* Horford led the Hawks with a plus-17 rating.
* The Hawks are averaging 108.4 points during their five-game win streak.
* The Rockets had three double-digit scorers with Michael Beasley (30), James Harden (25) and Donatas Motiejunas (13).
* Dwight Howard had a game-high 17 rebounds, only three on the offensive glass
* Howard was a team-worst minus-14.
* The Rockets had 31 free-throw attempts. The Hawks had 12 free-throw attempts.
* Josh Smith, the former Hawk, had his eighth straight DNP-CDs.
Key stat
14
Fourth-quarter points scored by the Rockets, who began the final period leading 83-82
Quote of the game
“If he could play like this every night, we’ll take that. I won’t ‘We’ve got to get better’ on him tonight. In a weird way, I will.” – Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer on Tim Hardaway Jr.
Report card
Offense: B-minus
The Hawks had two 30-point quarters. They shot 50 percent from the field (44 of 88). They hit some timely 3-pointers that were key. With the game close, the Hawks went on a 9-0 run. The Hawks were limited at the free-throw line. When the Rockets’ switched on the pick-and-roll, the Hawks were able to take advantage of the mismatches most of the time. The offense committed nine second-quarter turnovers that led to 17 points.
Defense: B
The Hawks allowed just 16 first-quarter points and 14 fourth-quarter points. That’s good. They allowed 42 second-quarter points. That’s bad. That allowed the Rockets to get back in a game they trailed by 14 points in the first quarter. James Harden did score 25 points but it came on 17 shots. Dwight Howard finished with just eight points.
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