Hawks rally from 19 down in the second quarter to beat Rockets
Al Horford had a season-high 30 points (15 on 5 3-pointers) and 14 rebounds, and the Atlanta Hawks rallied from 19 points down in the second quarter to beat the Houston Rockets 121-115.
The Hawks trailed 47-28 with 10:15 left in the second quarter and 71-56 at halftime. They outscored the Rockets 93-68 the rest of the way.
The Rockets had the ball down 2 with 12 seconds left, but Paul Millsap blocked Dwight Howard’s layup at the rim. It would have tied the game.
Horford’s 2 free throws with 5.2 seconds left made it 121-115 and put it away.
During clutch time, the Hawks outscored the Rockets 17-12. Horford scored 7 of the Hawks’ 17 on 2 for 2 shooting and 3 for 4 at the line.
Kent Bazemore scored 26 points with 5 3-pointers. Millsap added 22 points, 13 rebounds and a season-high 5 blocks, and Jeff Teague had 22 points (10 in the fourth quarter), 8 assists and 3 steals. The Hawks had 4 20-point scorers.
For the Rockets, Howard had a season-high 30 points and 16 rebounds on 10 for 12 shooting, and James Harden added 26 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists.
The Hawks grabbed 17 offensive rebounds to the Rockets’ 7. The Rockets forced 12 turnovers, about 5 fewer than usual for this many possessions. The Hawks scored the last 9 points of the game. The Rockets outscored the Hawks 21-0 in 6 minutes with Brewer, Harden, Lawson, Motiejunas and Capela on the floor together.