Rockets Storm Back to Stun Hawks, 128-122, After Dominant Fourth Quarter
Poking the Bird. Dominating the Boards. Right at Home.
If you checked in on this game midway through the third period, and saw the Rockets facing a 16-point deficit, you probably figured they were headed for another defeat. Well, Houston flipped the switch, and after a testy third quarter, stormed back from that 16-point deficit to shock the Hawks, 128-122, on Friday night. Jalen Green was on against Atlanta, scoring 30 points on an efficient 10-for-17 shooting. Jabari Smith Jr. had another strong outing, scoring 21 points and grabbing 9 rebounds. Kenyon Martin Jr. had arguably his best game as pro. KJ Martin got the striating nod due to the injuries to Eric Gordon and Alperen Sengun, and the youngster once again showed why he deserves as many minutes as possible. Martin scored 21 points, and swarmed the glass for a career-high 15 rebounds. But it was the return of Garrison “Garry Bird” Mathews, who arguably provided the biggest spark. After struggling the previous few games in limited playing time, Garry Bird returned just in time with some huge clutch three-pointers to help the Rockets stave off the Hawks, and earn the victory. Mathews finished with a season-high 20 points in the contest.
Houston withstood monster nights from Atlanta’s lethal backcourt. Trae Young and Dejounte Murray combined to torch the Rockets for 83 points, but some unnecessary taunting by the pair led to technicals, and fired Houston’s squad up. The Rockets motto is Light the Fuse, and Atlanta certainly helped by poking the bear, or bird, in Garrison Mathews. Dejounte Murray initially taunted Jabari Smith Jr., which started the commotion. Smith’s teammates had his back in the comeback win, especially Mathews, one of the league’s grittiest players.
This game shouldn’t have been as close as it was considering Houston dominated the rebound battle on Friday. The Rockets out rebounded the Hawks 59 to 28, and they scored 37 second-chance points, while limiting Atlanta to only 2 second-chance points. Young and Murray did nearly all the heavy lifting for the Hawks, who had only one other player, A.J. Griffin, score in double figures. Houston showed poise down the stretch and finally came out on the right side of a comeback game. The Rockets are used to giving up big leads, or trailing and coming up short. On Friday they bucked that trend with the impressive come-from-behind win, outscoring Atlanta 34-18 in the final period.
Houston gets right back in action at home on Saturday night as they host the Oklahoma City Thunder. OKC has one of the rising superstars in the league in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who will pose headaches for the Rockets’ defense. Houston has to hope the momentum from this victory over the Hawks, their best win of the season, can carry over to Saturday night. The Rockets will be playing a team with a worse record, but with arguably an even hotter player than the lethal backcourt they faced tonight. SGA has been the surprise of the season in terms of individual jumps in player performance… if Houston can contain him somehow, they might be able to avoid defeat once again on Saturday night.