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Recap: Rockets vs. Hawks - 12/20/2014

The Rockets started slowly and never fully got going as they fell to Atlanta 104-97 despite a career-high 14 assists from James Harden.

Houston had success initially as Donatas Motiejunas opened the game with a spinning hook on offense followed by a blocked shot on defense. Patrick Beverley added two corner three-pointers and the Rockets led through the first six minutes.

As the first continued, so did Atlanta’s buckets. The Hawks finished the quarter with a six-point lead as they shot 61% from the field.

“We were defensively very poor in the first half,” Kevin McHale said. “We weren't down in a stance. We weren't ready to play. They were getting layups on us, cutting, driving. We weren't very good defensively in the first half. We were much better defensively in the second half.”

The Rockets then had a stretch from late in the first through the start of the second where they managed only one field goal in 12 minutes and the Atlanta lead ballooned to 16. Houston scored a season-low 14-second quarter points on just 4-22 shooting.

To make matters worse, James Harden briefly left the game with a hamstring strain. While he eventually returned and notched his seventh double-double of the season, the Rockets were dominated under the rim in the first half. Atlanta went to the locker room with a 12-point lead and a 26-10 points-in-the-paint advantage.

The Rockets started the third quarter with much more energy and ran off a 9-0 run to cut the Atlanta lead to 3. The Hawks caught their breath and built the lead back up to 12.

“Well, if we want to give ourselves a chance we got to play harder and it goes down the line. Every one of us has to do more to help our team win and that's basically what we talked about at half time. That's how we got back in the game. That's how we gave ourselves a chance to win at the end,” Trevor Ariza said.

Jason Terry checked in and hit back-to-back threes to spark a Rockets rally amidst flaring tempers, technical fouls and disagreements on calls. Houston went on a 20-7 run over the final 4:42 of the third to tie the game at 74 heading into the fourth, but could never match that energy in the final frame.

The loss snapped the Rockets’ 19-game home winning streak over Eastern Conference opponents, which was the longest active home winning streak against the opposing conference in the NBA.

The Rockets did hold Atlanta so an opponent season-low 4 offensive rebounds and cut their points-in-the-paint advantage to just 40-36 by the game’s end. Dwight Howard also earned his 11th double-double in the 14 games he’s played this season (19 points, 11 rebounds).

“During the season you always hit tough stretches. You always have times where you gotta see what you are made of. We have had two tough battles but we can't stop fighting and we can't give up on each other. We just got to fight through it. Everything isn't going to be perfect every  night. The last couple of games the ball hasn't been falling the way we wanted it to and the defense hasn't been where we need it to be but we can't lose focus. We got to stay strong and stay together,” Howard said.

The Rockets have a playoff rematch with Portland Monday at Toyota Center.