Rockets at Hawks
The Atlanta Hawks find themselves in a dogfight for playoff seeding in the crowded Eastern Conference, but victories in nine of their past 11 have the Hawks moving in the right direction entering Saturday’s home contest against the Houston Rockets. Atlanta sits in third place in the East but are only one game ahead of sixth-place Boston.
“It seems when I look there is very little difference between third and 10th,” Atlanta coach Mike Budenholzer said after Thursday’s 116-98 victory over Denver. “We have to keep pressing forward.” The Rockets also find themselves in a tight race for postseason positioning in the Western Conference as a 116-111 home victory over Minnesota on Friday moved them within one-half game of sixth-place Portland and one game ahead of eighth-place Dallas. The Rockets have won five of their past seven after going 3-7 in their prior 10 contests. James Harden scored 29 points with 14 assists in Friday’s victory, one of six Houston players with double figures, and Patrick Beverley added a career-high 10 assists.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, ROOT (Houston), FSN Southeast (Atlanta)
ABOUT THE ROCKETS (35-34): Houston has been much better offensively in the past 58 games since J.B. Bickerstaff became coach and has averaged 113.4 points in their past seven contests. Defensive inconsistency has kept the Rockets from breaking away from .500 as they held Memphis to 29.7 percent shooting in Monday’s victory before allowing the Clippers to hit 56.6 percent of their attempts in a loss Wednesday and Minnesota to shoot 50.6 percent Friday. Harden, second in the NBA in scoring at 28.6 points, is 22-of-43 from the field in the past two games after shooting 5-of-22 in his previous two outings.
ABOUT THE HAWKS (40-29): Atlanta played without Kent Bazemore (knee bone bruise) Thursday but Tim Hardaway Jr., acquired in a draft-day deal from the Knicks, made his first start of the season and responded with 21 points, seven rebounds and four assists in his best game of the season. The Hawks have been outstanding defensively all season but in particular of late, allowing 92.5 points during their current four-game winning streak. Center Al Horford continues playing well, shooting 61.4 percent from the floor and hitting 9-of-18 3-point attempts in averaging 16.7 points in his past six contests.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Houston C Dwight Howard ranks third in the NBA in rebounding (12 per game) and second in field-goal percentage (61.6 percent).
2. The Hawks have held opponents to 27.1 percent 3-point shooting in the past six games.
3. Atlanta won the first meeting of the season with Houston - a 121-115 road victory Dec. 29 - and a victory Saturday would give the Hawks a six-game winning streak against Western Conference competition.