THJ Saves The Day
From that point on, Atlanta used strong team defense and rebounding, as well as a flame-throwing Tim Hardaway Jr. to ride a ridiculous wave of momentum to the win.
Hardaway Jr. scored 23 of his 33 points in the final quarter, matching the Rockets total for the 4th as a team. He hit one three-pointer from the left wing that rolled around the rim and in. Then he obviously entered into a zone, making another one from farther out that rained through the net without barely touching it. By this time, you could just tell he was on a mission to will the team to victory, as he was looking to create his own shot regardless of double teams.
Coach Mike Budenholzer must have liked what he was watching, since he trusted the same group of players that started the comeback to finish the job. Even if that meant that the Hawks leader, and only All-Star, Paul Millsap had to remain on the sideline for almost the whole final quarter, cheering with the rest of his teammates.
Hardaway wasn’t done. He then ran off a double screen to receive a pass once again on the left side of the floor, then dribbled towards the top of the key. He rose up to release his shot at the peak of his jump, between two defenders, and made another three, throwing it through the hoop with ease.
With less than two minutes to go, and the Hawks trailing by two points, Hardaway split a pair of defenders during a fast-break to convert a lay up through a foul. Dwight Howard was open for a dunk on the other side of the basket, but adrenaline willed Timmy to finish the play himself. He went on to make the ensuing free throw.
As Houston’s world continued to crumble around them, the Hawks rebounded another one of the plentiful misses from beyond the arc by the Rockets. They finished 13-for-51 from deep for 25.5 percent. In a moment when the Rockets seemed like they were expecting the Hawks to try to burn up all of the shot clock in an attempt to not lose the game, Hardaway made a clean break to the rim.
As the defenders scurried to recover, it was a little late. Hardaway was already lifting off for an epic throw down. In a last gasp effort to salvage their lackadaisical defensive possession, center Clint Capella came from the weak side to contest the dunk. Bless his heart, the poor guy received a posterization worse than the one Michael Jordan gave Patrick Ewing along that baseline.