Atlanta Hawks: Takeaways From Comeback Win Over Rockets

Fourth Quarter Heroics

Mike Budenholzer went with an interesting lineup to close things out against the Rockets. He “rode the hot hand”, as they say. He had a group of players on the court leading an impressive comeback and he didn’t want to mess with that chemistry. It turned out to be the right move.

A lineup comprised of Malcolm Delaney, Tim Hardaway Jr., DeAndre’ Bembry, Kent Bazemore, and Dwight Howard led the comeback. Hardaway did most of the leading. He absolutely exploded in the fourth quarter.

Hardaway finished with 33 points in the game, 23 of those points came in the fourth quarter on 8-for-11 shooting. He scored in a variety of ways. Hardaway knocked down open and contested threes, he got to the basket and finished through contact, and he also unleashed thunderous dunks on the Rockets.

His 33 points were a career high. I assume construction is underway on a THJ statue outside of Phillips Arena.

Hardaway’s performance stood out the most, and for good reason, but he offered praise to a teammate after the game. Hardaway spoke to the media about DeAndre’ Bembry’s defense on James Harden late in the game.

"“These guys can play all they want, but what was working was DeAndre’ Bembry — you’ve got to give him all the credit,” Hardaway said. “He took the challenge of guarding possibly the MVP of the season, it’s a hard task, but he stayed discipline.”"

Bembry was outstanding on Harden. Harden scored 41 points overall, but only six of those points came in the fourth quarter. The rookie did not back down from the challenge. There aren’t many defenders in the NBA than can thwart Harden the way he did on Thursday night.

Hardaway’s development is one of the stories of the season for Atlanta. Early last season he couldn’t even crack the rotation. Now he’s an essential role player and a guy capable of taking over late in games. It’s starting to look more and more likely that the Hawks will retain his services next summer.