Hawks Rally From 20 Down but Fall to Rockets 121-114 in Home Opener

The Atlanta Hawks trailed by 20 points with 7:58 left in their home opener Saturday night. They cut it to five in the final minute and still lost 121-114 to the Houston Rockets at State Farm Arena.

Atlanta fell to 2-1. Houston is 3-0.

Both teams were playing the second night of a back-to-back. The Hawks beat the Charlotte Hornets 128-81 on Friday at Spectrum Center, the largest win in franchise history. Saturday's crowd of 17,942 was a sellout.

Jalen Johnson led Atlanta in points, rebounds, and assists, finishing with 26, 9, and 16 in 38:15. The 16 assists tied his career high. He shot 8-of-19 from the field and 8-of-10 from the free-throw line.

Dyson Daniels scored 18 on 8-of-11 shooting and fouled out with 18.9 seconds to go. Nickeil Alexander-Walker also had 18, going 7-of-16 from the field and 4-of-12 from 3. CJ McCollum's 17 included 10 in the fourth quarter, and Aaron Wiggins came off the bench for 16.

Kevin Durant had 22 for Houston on 8-of-15 shooting, and Reed Sheppard put up 19 points, 6 rebounds, and 7 assists while going 5-of-11 from 3. Tari Eason, off the bench, also scored 19. The Rockets had seven players in double figures.

Houston was down three rotation players. Fred VanVleet sat for what the team listed as right knee injury management, Steven Adams for left ankle injury management, and Marcus Smart with a left forearm strain, so Sheppard got the start.

Atlanta scored the first 7 points of the night, Daniels on a cut, Alexander-Walker from 3, and Johnson twice at the line, all inside the first 92 seconds. That 7-0 cushion was as big as the Hawks' lead got.

Houston answered with 7 straight. Jabari Smith Jr. scored 5 of them, the last 3 on a running shot in transition that tied it with 9:18 left.

The Rockets were up 30-26 after one and 59-48 at the half. Atlanta made 1 of its 10 3-point tries in the second quarter, and over the first 24 minutes Houston outscored it 13-3 on second-chance points.

Hawks coach Quin Snyder said Atlanta got some good looks at the rim and just could not finish them. Houston had 6 offensive rebounds in the first half alone.

"It's hard," Snyder said. "We know how important the defensive boards are for us to get out and go. And the best way to attack them in space, they're so big and they're spread out. When you get in the half court, it's harder."

"So you have to take those shots," Snyder continued. "We can look at them and see how contested they were, but a lot of times that's the best shot you're going to get in a possession. When we got on the offensive glass, we were able to get another one. Those are shots that we can rebound."

Bogdan Bogdanović made 3 of his 5 3-point attempts in 20:23 off the bench.

"Sheppard and [Bogdanović's] threes, those were some breakdowns we've got to clean up," Snyder explained. "Those guys are really good shooters. We know that. Someone might have a hot night, but we've got to limit their attempts."

Bogdanović's 3-pointer with 3:56 left in the third quarter put Houston up 85-65, its first 20-point lead.

Atlanta closed the third period on a 16-7 run. Wiggins hit two 3-pointers 62 seconds apart, and Johnson scored on a putback at the buzzer to make it 92-81.

Sheppard opened the fourth with a pull-up jumper and later hit two more 3s. The second, with 7:58 remaining, made it 108-88.

Atlanta then outscored Houston 24-9 across 7:21 of game time.

McCollum scored 8 of the 24. Daniels hit a 3 and threw down a cutting dunk off a Johnson pass, and Onyeka Okongwu's two free throws with 36.5 seconds left made it 117-112.

Both teams won a coach's challenge in the final four minutes. Houston's, with 3:29 left, overturned a foul on Smith. Atlanta's, with 39.8 seconds left, overturned an offensive foul on Daniels.

On Houston's next trip, Daniels picked off a Sheppard pass. Johnson missed a floater from 4 feet, Okongwu got the offensive rebound, and Alexander-Walker's 3 with 25.6 seconds left did not fall either.

"I think as much as anything, when we do get a stop, we've got to take advantage of it," Snyder said. "I thought we had some breakdowns, regardless of matchups, that we need to take care of."

Daniels' sixth foul, a take foul at 18.9 seconds, sent Durant to the line, and he made both. Eason's dunk with 8.7 seconds left made it 121-112.

Snyder said Atlanta executed well down the stretch.

"The fact that we weren't making shots and we continued to play, continued to play, and then got back in the game, I think it would have been easy to fold at a certain point," Snyder said. "We didn't do that."

"The good thing, we've talked consistently about trying to become the best version of ourselves," Snyder continued. "These are the types of games that give you the opportunity to do that if you take advantage of it."

Atlanta shot 43-of-96 (44.8%) from the field and 13-of-49 (26.5%) from 3-point range. Houston shot 43-of-89 (48.3%) and 14-of-35 (40%) from deep.

Atlanta's 58 paint points beat Houston's 46, and the Hawks had a 20-12 edge on the break.

The free-throw line went the other way, 21-of-23 for Houston and 15-of-21 for Atlanta. The Rockets were plus-5 on second-chance points, 22-17.

Jock Landale and Smith got matching technicals with 7:40 to go in the second quarter. Thirty-one seconds later Durant was given one, and Eason drew his at 4:19.

Landale, who was listed as available with a nasal fracture before Friday's game, had 2 points and turned it over 5 times in 18:38.

Atlanta was again without Mouhamed Gueye (left foot fracture) and Henri Veesaar (right knee ACL tear).

The teams meet again Monday at Toyota Center in Houston, with tip-off at 8:30 p.m. ET. The Hawks return home to host the Miami Heat on Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET.