Hardaway's heroics lift Hawks in Howard's return to Houston

Tim Hardaway Jr. erupted for 23 of his 33 points in the fourth quarter on Thursday as the Atlanta Hawks rallied to shock the Rockets 113-108 in Houston.

The Hawks erased a 20-point deficit in the final period as Hardaway's heroics ensured that teammate Dwight Howard came away with a win in his first return to Houston, where he played three years for the Rockets.

Rockets guard Eric Gordon's three-pointer pushed the hosts' lead to 97-77 with 8:28 left in the game.

The Rockets had closed to 99-86 when Hardaway caught fire, converting a three-point play and a three-pointer around an alley-oop by Howard.

Another three-pointer from Gordon pushed the Rockets lead to 104-96, but Hardaway went on another tear, capped by a soaring drive with 41.8 seconds left that put the Hawks up 111-108.

A dunk by Hawks reserve DeAndre Bembry capped the comeback.

"I remember telling everybody to get three or four straight stops, and lucky enough we were able to get three-point field goals made after the stops," said Hardaway, whose 33 points, on 12-of-18 shooting, were a career high.

"You've got the clock in your favor because you're getting stops and get them in the penalty."

Rockets guard James Harden scored 18 of his game-high 41 points in the third quarter, including 12 in the opening two minutes of the period.

It looked as if that barrage was enough to put the Rockets on the path to victory, but apart from Clint Capela's 22 points and nine rebounds Harden received too little help from his teammates.

"Frustrating, frustrating," Harden said. "Honestly, it was all of us. We just let them get too many open shots, get confidence ... it was a let-down in the fourth."

Howard scored 24 points and pulled down 23 rebounds with two blocked shots.

"Tim was making crazy shots, so we kept trying to find plays to get him attacking the basket," Howard said. 

"That's what I kept telling him: attack, attack, attack. He just started to open up everything after he started doing that."

Source: AFP