Rockets tie franchise mark for futility with 17th loss in a row.
Rally from 23 down to tie brings thoughts of victory, but ugly finish runs skid to club record-tying 17 games
If the Rockets had not decided that this would be the night, if they could not see the win that had for so long eluded them suddenly within reach, K.J. Martin flew high above the rim to announce their intentions.
His most violent of slams brought the Rockets to within two points with six minutes left Tuesday night at Toyota Center. But while the Rockets were picturing a final push to the win, the Hawks demonstrated what they had mastered in recent weeks.
The Hawks blasted the Rockets down the stretch, sending them to a 119-107 loss and their losing streak to 17 games, matching the longest in franchise history.
Victor Oladipo had a season-high 34 points with Jae’Sean Tate getting a
career-high 25. But with John Collins scoring 20 points with 10 rebounds, including a pair of offensive boards that halted the Rockets’ run, and Danilo Gallinari scoring 29 points, the Hawks scored 15 points in the final 5½ minutes to surge to the win. Hawks guard Trae Young added 13 points with 14 assists.
The Rockets rallied all the way back from a 23point deficit in the first quarter to tie it in the fourth. They had turned up their late-arriving defense and rode the best offensive games of the season from Oladipo and Tate.
They just had to win down the stretch against a team that had forged its five-game winning streak, all since Nate McMillan took over as interim coach, on its outstanding play in the fourth quarter.
The Rockets went into the final seven minutes down two after a slick Oladipo reverse.
The Rockets, however, broke down, struggling to get good shots, save Martin’s slam, until it was too late. Martin’s dunk was the Rockets’ only field goal in six attempts before an Oladipo fadeaway after the Hawks had built a commanding 11-point lead.
Once the Rockets tied the game early in the fourth quarter, they made 3 of their next 14 shots as the Hawks pulled away.
They had been climbing uphill all game, and in some ways even before the game began.
The Rockets were so shorthanded, even by their standards, they even went a stretch with five rookies on the floor, only one that had been drafted, Martin who was the 52nd pick, and just one, Tate who had been with them all season.
That predicament could be close to an end with Christian Wood and Danuel House Jr. potentially returning on Wednesday against the Warriors and John Wall hoping to be back on Friday against the Pistons.
Against the Hawks, however, the Rockets had just two players who have ever played a full NBA season, Oladipo and Sterling Brown. Every Rockets player available on Tuesday had as many combined seasons as the Hawks’ Rajon Rondo, and that’s counting Justin Patton’s nine games before joining the Rockets as three seasons.
Still, the search for bright spots was not difficult.
Oladipo has looked spryer and more confident in the past two games. On Tuesday, he got shots to fall, too, making 8 of 11 attempts including all three of his 3-pointers to score 23 points in the first half.
That was his sixth consecutive game scoring at least 20 but never had they come more easily.
With Kevin Porter Jr. adding 16 points and five assists, the Rockets’ backcourt did what it could to keep pace with the Hawks.
The Rockets had begun the game as if unaware they were permitted to defend on the other end. If they yelled “miss it!” a few times, the defense would have improved from what they showed the first 15 minutes.
That was all the Hawks needed to build a 48-25 lead while shooting 72 percent. When the Rockets came out of the timeout playing some defense, the Hawks slowed down just a bit, making 9 of 18 shots in the rest of the half as the Rockets reduced their lead to 15.
Still, in a season filled with blowouts, the Hawks had the top-scoring half against the Rockets this season, putting up 73 points.
The Rockets, however, had turned up the defense enough to have a chance if their shooting came around. It did and they climbed back in the game.
The Rockets entered the fourth quarter within one. More than just see a chance to end the streak at last, they seemed to believe this would be the night before an all-toofamiliar ending.