The Houston Rockets trailed for nearly all of Monday’s game at Atlanta, were down by 13 points after three quarters, and absorbed an absolute onslaught from All-Star guard Trae Young (41 points, 9 assists).
But thanks to unexpected showings deep off the bench and a strong veteran backcourt duo of Eric Gordon and DJ Augustin, the Rockets outgunned the Hawks in the fourth quarter by an incredible 44-25 margin, leading to a stunning 132-126 win (box score) on the road.
For the young and scrappy Rockets (9-18), it represents their eight win in the team’s last 10 games. For the Hawks (13-14), who made the Eastern Conference finals last season, it’s only their fifth loss in 14 games.
Gordon led the way with a season-high 32 points in 32 minutes, including 5-of-8 on 3-pointers (62.5%). Meanwhile, Augustin added 22 in 23 minutes as a reserve, shooting 6-of-7 (85.7%) on 3-pointers. Houston was +21 in its minutes with Augustin, and -15 in all other minutes. Christian Wood was oddly cold with 12 points on 4-of-13 from the field (30.8% FG) and 0-of-6 on 3-pointers, and head coach Stephen Silas made an unusual call not to play his star big man at all in the fourth quarter.
It was the right call, with reserves like KJ Martin (13 points, 6 rebounds in 27 minutes), Alperen Sengun (11 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists in 25 minutes), and even David Nwaba (10 points, 6 rebounds in 11 minutes) — who has been out of the rotation for weeks — playing key roles late in the game. Jae’Sean Tate added 15 points (3-of-4 on 3-pointers) and 4 assists, giving Houston seven double-figure scorers in a balanced effort.
“Tonight, I just had a gut feeling to roll with the group that brought the energy and was really playing well,” Silas said postgame.
Houston will finish up their three-game road trip with Wednesday’s game at Cleveland, where tipoff is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. CST. Until then, see below for highlights and more postgame reaction from Atlanta.
[lawrence-related id=58672,58606,58567]