Court Vision: Hawks overcome Rockets' charge; Korver sets record
Going inside the Hawks' 104-97 win over the Rockets on Saturday night in Houston. It was their 14th in the last 16 games.
In seizing a 16-point lead on the Rockets, the Hawks had certainly cast aside any concerns that they would take a step back after Wednesday's 29-point road win over the Cavaliers (one that saw them make a season-high 16 3-pointers and shoot 64.5 percent, their highest since April 19, 1997).
However, they may have gained more respect for what they did when things went awry in Houston.
Atlanta locked down on James Harden in the first half, keeping him scoreless on seven shots largely with DeMarre Carroll hounding him. But Harden caught fire in the third, scoring 14 of his 18 and when he wasn't scoring he was opening the floor for Jason Terry, who hit four three-pointers.
Harden's eruption held the Rockets seize a 76-74 lead to open the fourth quarter, but they would get no more than a two-point lead on two occasions, the last coming off a Harden free throw with 4:47 to make it 87-85.
From there, the Hawks outscored Houston 19-12, including a 25-foot 3-pointer from Kyle Korver that put Atlanta up 95-90 with 1:29 to play and put the Rockets into foul-mode. The Hawks would hit nine of 10, including Korver adding to his legacy (more on that later).
The Hawks beat the Bulls with All-Star Joakim Noah out and built such a big lead on the Cavaliers that LeBron James was benched for the fourth. This time, they weathered the storm of an elite player and still emerged with a win -- and they did it once again with leading scorer Jeff Teague sidelined with a stained left hamstring.
Korver was responsible for four of those late free throws and in the process wrote another chapter of Hawks history.
He pushed his consecutive FT streak to 49, eclipsing Tom McMillen's previous Hawks record of 47 set in 1978-79. That's also a personal best streak for Korver.
Not that we should be surprised by that kind of a run out of Korver, who is second in the league with a 96.0 percentage this season, and is 14th in NBA history at 88.3 over his career.
He already owns the NBA record for consecutive games with a 3-pointer at 127, which he set last season.
The Rocket came in 6-0 against the Eastern Conference and had claimed 19 consecutive games against its teams. Add in that the Hawks had just one victory in the Toyota Center since it opened in 2003 and it didn't set up well for Atlanta.
But the Hawks overcame that obstacle, getting their first win in Houston since Jan. 25, 2010, and now they'll face another major one the next time.
The acquisition of Rajon Rondo in a trade with the Celtics on Thursday added to the Mavericks' star-studded lineup and in just their second game with Rondo in the lineup, they beat the Spurs 99--93 Saturday night.
The new point guard had nine assists and seven rebounds to go along with six points and a team-high plus/minus of plus-17.
Atlanta got the best of Rondo in their last meeting on Dec. 2 in Philips Arena as Dennis Schroder had his coming out party vs. the player he's most often compared to. But this is a different kind of talent Rondo is surrounded by now and figures to be an intriguing matchup for a Hawks team that is making the most of them.
10 -- The Rockets came in allowing 96 points per game, which is second in the league, but Atlanta was the 10th straight game in which they gave up more than that and the seventh team to score 100-plus in that span.
14 -- Atlanta held Houston to 14 second-quarter points, which was a season low. They shot just 18.2 percent in that quarter.
Follow Cory McCartney on Twitter @coryjmccartney
