Hawks at Rockets
It remains to be seen which Houston Rockets team takes the floor for Tuesday’s home contest against the Atlanta Hawks, but it is clear interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff has seen enough inconsistent play in the 21 games since he replaced Kevin McHale. Houston is 12-9 since Bickerstaff took over, but following a maddening 24-hour stretch in which the Rockets beat San Antonio on Christmas only to lose Saturday against New Orleans, Bickerstaff blasted his team’s focus and priorities.
He pulled no punches in his postgame comments to the media, describing his team’s efforts as “disrespecting the game” and emphasizing that “winning is the only priority that matters.” Houston features the NBA’s second-leading scorer in James Harden and the third-highest rebounder in Dwight Howard, but has managed only one winning streak longer than two games (three) since early November. The Hawks know something about stringing victories together as last year’s Central Division champions won seven in a row early this season and had a six-game streak snapped in Monday’s 93-87 loss at Indiana. The Hawks committed a season-high 22 turnovers in the loss, offsetting 24 points from leading scorer Paul Millsap.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, FSN Southeast (Atlanta), ROOT (Houston)
ABOUT THE HAWKS (20-13): Atlanta’s normally reliable point-guard duo of Jeff Teague and Dennis Schroder struggled Monday (combining for eight turnovers) as the Hawks finished with 16 assists, more than nine below their Eastern Conference-leading average. Millsap reached 20 points for the fifth time in eight games and is averaging 18.1 per contest. Atlanta averaged 111.5 points during its winning streak, but is 4-12 when scoring fewer than 100 points.
ABOUT THE ROCKETS (16-16): Harden plays a league-leading 38.1 minutes per game, scoring 28.4 points while ranking eighth in assists (6.8), but the guard has shot just 15 free throws in the past three games after going to the line 29 times in the previous two contests. Howard is averaging 11.5 rebounds and scored his 15,000th career point Saturday, becoming the fourth-fastest in league history to reach 15,000 points and 10,000 rebounds. Houston has averaged 105.2 points under Bickerstaff, an eight-point improvement from the Rockets’ 11 games under McHale.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Harden is approaching two milestones, needing 204 points to reach 10,000 for his career and three steals from reaching 700 career thefts.
2. The Rockets went 3-7 in their first 10 home games but have won seven in a row since, holding opponents to under 100 points in the past four victories.
3. Atlanta G/F Kyle Korver, who led the NBA in 3-point shooting the past two seasons, is 2-of-17 from 3-point range the past three games.