Peachtree Hoops: Hawks defeat Rockets 122-113 for second win on back-to-back

[Hawksquawk]

Photo by Scott Cunningham/NBAE via Getty Images

The Atlanta Hawks defeated the Houston Rockets, without VanVleet and Sengun, by a score of 122-113 on Saturday night.

The Hawks scored their first points on great action that led to Trae Young lobbing the ball to an Onyeka Okongwu dunk.

Pretty motion to start us off pic.twitter.com/i6ZXMuCqHU

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) February 11, 2024

Kobe Bufkin entered the game during the first set of substitutions around the six minute mark. He attempted a three-pointer early but couldn’t connect. The Rockets secured a 22-15 advantage thanks to a 10-0 run. Jalen Johnson ended this run with a dunk in transition at the 3:30 mark. However, the Rockets still finished the quarter on a 19-4 run.

The Hawks finished the first quarter trailing 31-19. They shot 8-for-28 from the field and 2-for-12 from three-point range.

Trae Young hit a long two-pointer and Garrison Mathews followed it with a three-pointer to cut the lead down to five points. The Hawks regained a 40-38 lead midway through the second quarter. After Okongwu logged his third foul, the Hawks ran a Young-Murray-Bogdanovic-Bey-Johnson lineup. The Hawks outscored the Rockets 38-18 in the second quarter to take a 57-49 lead at halftime.

Lines at half

Murray: 13 pts, 5 ast, blk, stl
Johnson: 15 pts, 2 blk
Young: 5 pts, 7 ast

— joe schmidt (@Joe_Schmidt07) February 11, 2024

Kobe Bufkin scored his first basket of the game in the third quarter, drilling a three-pointer that was assisted by Johnson. Dejounte Murray was scoring at will, and brought his total to 24 by the end of the quarter.

Kobe splashes a 3! pic.twitter.com/OhKhuDtxzq

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) February 11, 2024

Dejounte in attack mode pic.twitter.com/n51btc73dR

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) February 11, 2024

The Hawks outscored the Rockets 38-35 in the third quarter, with Murray scoring 11. The score was 95-84 entering the fourth quarter. After a couple sloppy possessions, Trae Young scored the first basket of the fourth quarter by banking in an and-one floater.

Aaron Holiday hit a turnaround midrange to cut the Rockets’ deficit to six points before Quin Snyder called a timeout.

With just under five minutes remaining, Trae Young knocked down free throws to extend the lead to 13. Just a couple minutes later, Dillon Brooks hit a three-pointer to bring the Rockets within four. Murray immediately came down and scored an and-one layup. The Hawks then led 114-107.

DJ is TOO quick pic.twitter.com/ENdXVhoGbP

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) February 11, 2024

Saddiq Bey got a putback dunk for the final points of the game, and sealed it with under 30 seconds remaining.

View the full article