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Rockets become third team to win 20 straight
Houston 83, Atlanta 75
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Damien Pierce
Rockets.com Staff Writer
Joe Johnson was burying jumpers. Josh Smith was snatching rebounds over Houston's
undersized frontline. And the Atlanta Hawks had stalled the Rockets' once-mighty
offense.
For the first time in weeks, the Rockets were in trouble. The Hawks were standing
toe-to-toe with the NBA's hottest team and had visions of ending Houston's
historic run.
Were the Rockets worried? Not exactly.
"We were missing shots, we were in foul trouble and we were down," Rockets
forward Shane Battier said. "But we have great will on this team."
Battier and Co. showed it -- again.
The Rockets overcame a rugged offensive performance to become the third team in
NBA history to win 20 consecutive games with a gritty 83-75 victory over the
Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday night.
Houston (44-20) matched Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and the 1970-71 Milwaukee Bucks for
the second-longest winning streak in league history. Right now, only the Los
Angeles Lakers have won more games in a row -- stringing together 33 straight in
1971-72.
Marvin Williams ended the Rockets' run of consecutive wins by double figures --
an NBA-tying record 10 in a row -- with a dunk in the waning moments. But that hardly mattered to the Rockets.
On a night when they struggled from start to finish, the Rockets were satisfied with winning -- and extending their streak.
"The game wasn't pretty," Rockets coach Rick Adelman said. "But it might have
been the best. We shot 33 percent and still won."
The Rockets did it with -- what else? -- their defense.
During the first 40-plus minutes of the game, the Hawks had given Houston fits. Atlanta slowed down the Rockets and beat Houston for several transition buckets to gain an early lead.
The Hawks' two leading scorers were even having fun. Johnson was sinking everything in the first half and Smith ended up grabbing a career-high 22 rebounds by out-jumping Houston's big men. Before achieving that, Smith threw an alley-oop pass from Johnson through the bucket that had the Hawks thinking of ending Houston's streak.
Despite all of that and trailing by as much as 10 points in the first half, the Rockets hung around with their defense. Houston swapped the lead with Atlanta six times before taking a 71-70 advantage into the final five minutes.
That's when Houston ended Atlanta's streak-busting bid.
Atlanta missed seven straight shots as the Rockets bolted on a game-determining 10-0 run. Rockets star Tracy McGrady, who had 28 points and nine rebounds, swished a three-pointer to cap off the spurt and put the game out of Atlanta's reach.
None of the Hawks finished strong. The Hawks' leading scorer -- Johnson -- made only 1 of 5 shots in the final quarter to cap off his night with 28 points.
The Hawks overall shot 33.8 percent.
"Our defense was outstanding," Battier said. "We made them work for everything. It's been a trademark for us."
The defensive effort made up for an evening when no one was sinking shots for the Rockets.
McGrady missed eight of his first 10 shots and Rockets point guard Rafer Alston endured a 3-of-18 effort from the field. With Houston's two leading scorers over the past eight games struggling, Houston shot 33.3 percent.
The Rockets were even held to a season-low 33 points in the first half.
"Early, we missed shot after shot after shot," Adelman said. "We couldn't hit anything. But our defense kept us in there. We held them down and stayed within striking distance."
The latest effort helped the Rockets move into a tie with the San Antonio Spurs for the best record in the Southwest Division and, more importantly, the second spot in the Western Conference.
The Rockets are one game behind the Los Angeles Lakers for the top spot in the West -- with the Lakers coming to town on Sunday.
But for now, the Rockets are more concerned with the Charlotte Bobcats visiting Houston on Friday.
The Hawks made sure of that by giving the Rockets a scare unlike any other over their winning streak.
"We just continue to have fun and play hard," Rockets guard Luther Head said. "We can't focus on breaking the record. We have to focus on getting better."
