January 4th, 2009 
Stephen Rhodes 
Posted in 
The Atlanta Hawks needed a change of luck, especially after they lost last night on a 3-pointer at the buzzer. In their game against the Houston Rockets on Saturday, they shot a blistering 58.9% from the floor yet the Rockets managed to hamg tough with them; however, it all came to an end as Mike Bibby drained a 3-pointer with 1.5 seconds remaining in the game, leading Atlanta to the narrow 103-100 win over Houston at Philips Arena.
The first quarter was evenly played as Houston outscored Atlanta 27-22 while the Hawks outscored the Rockets 32-19 in taking a 54-46 lead into the third quarter. Josh Smith’s rebounding would be important in the fourth quarter as he rebounded a miss and dunked over Rockets center Yao Ming with 3:55 left in the game, which gave Atlanta a 98-96 lead. Smith would help the Hawks add to their lead when he went coast-to-coast for the dunk at the 3:08 mark. That would set up the game-winning 3-pointer by Bibby with only 1.5 seconds left in the game.
Atlanta was led by Smith with 29 points, 2 rebounds, an assist and a blocked shot while Ronald Murray from off the bench added 17 with 4 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal; Joe Johnson notched a double-double as he scored 14 with 14 assists. Houston’s high scorer was reserve Carl Landry with 18 points and 5 rebounds while Von Wafer – subbing for Tracy McGrady – added 17 (including 3 treys) with 2 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals; Luis Scola and Ming pitched in, scoring 16 each – with Scola grabbing 11 rebounds and dishing out an assist while Ming grabbed 15 boards, dished out 3 assists with a steal. Atlanta (22-11) plays again on Wednesday when they host the Orlando Magic while Houston (21-14) travels north to Philadelphia to face the 76ers on Tuesday.
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