Houston Rockets 114 Atlanta Hawks 109

Boxscore

Gameflow

Hoopdata boxscore

Highlights

Team	Poss	Off Eff	eFG%	FT Rate	OR%		TO%
ATL	92	1.185	56.2	22.2	20		12
HOU	92	1.239	59.3	33.3	23.3		15.2

In their last four wins, the Hawks have allowed between 90 and 102.5 points per 100 possessions. In their last seven losses, the Hawks have allowed at least 110 and as many as 132.6 points per 100 possessions. I have no confidence in either of those performance types representing the true nature of this team. The Hawks are three points to the good after 77 games. They're a mediocre team, albeit a highly variable one.

Joe Johnson:

"We didn’t do a great job helping one another. We gave up way too many points in the paint. We didn’t play inside out defensively and make them make those shots. We made it tough on ourselves."

Josh Smith:

"We gave up too many dribble-drives, too much dribble-penetration. They scored 56 points in the paint; that’s way too many. I think if we could have closed in some of those gaps and made them kick it out to shooters, it might have been a different outcome."

Chuck Hayes, could-be Hawks blogger:

"They hit a lot of jumpers [in the first half]. Out of 60 points, they only had 20 in the paint. So they were taking the shots we wanted them to take, they just made them."

The Hawks were 17 of 33 on long (16-23') two-point jumpers for the game.

Rick Adelman:

"They did just what we said they were going to do: isolations, post-ups and pick-and-rolls. Then in the second half we came out with a much better effort defensively and then down the stretch we switched Courtney [Lee] onto Johnson. He did a great job on Johnson in the last three minutes. He made him take tough shots."

Larry Drew:

"At some point you hope that it clocks in to stay with that’s working."

Or just consistently create scoring opportunities that have a better than average chance of being converted. If your primary offensive attack is the least efficient shot in basketball, even if your players are adept at making that shot, consistency will remain out of your reach.

The Hawks got killed in the third quarter because they missed 75% of their long two-point jumpers. The Hawks were in the game because they made 60% of those shots in the other three quarters.

Yes, the burst of free throw attempts (12) in the second quarter (most of them coming from Marvin Williams, Jeff Teague, and Zaza Pachulia) provided a material difference but the Hawks scored 51 points on 46 possessions over the first and fourth quarters despite getting to the line just five times. The free throw attempts were a pleasant aberration. The reliance on jump shots was constant.