It took the Atlanta Hawks a half to figure things out and become whole.
Al Horford hit the go ahead layup with 33.5 seconds remaining to cap season-highs of 30 points and 14 rebounds Tuesday, and the Hawks rallied from 19 down in the first half for a thrilling 121-115 road victory over the Houston Rockets.
“Our group just kept fighting” said Horford, who hit five 3-pointers in the rousing come-from-behind win. “We kept with it.”
Kent Bazemore also knocked down five triples en route to 26 points, while Paul Millsap and Jeff Teague added 22 apiece for the Hawks (21-13) who bounced back from Monday’s loss for their seventh win in eight games.
“Give them credit, they shot the heck out of the ball and we played some terrible defence in the first half,” said Millsap, who had 13 rebounds and a career-best five blocked shots.
“It took us a while to figure out what they were doing but we didn’t get rattled. We found a way to put the ball in the basket, we got stops and were able to come out with the win.”
Dwight Howard had 30 points with 16 rebounds while James Harden had 26 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists for Houston (16-17) who had won their previous seven home games.
Playing their second road game in as many nights, the weary Hawks allowed the Rockets to shoot a sizzling 69 per cent from the field and fell behind 71-56 at half-time.
“We couldn’t guard them, we couldn’t keep them in front of us,” Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said. “Our mantra was if we could keep them in front of us, we felt we had a chance and at some point their percentage would come down.”
In a tale of two halves, the Hawks made the adjustments and held their hosts to just 36 per cent while outscored them 65-44, including a 9-0 finishing kick.
Trailing 115-112, Bazemore buried a step-back 3-pointer to knot the contest before forcing the dangerous shooting Harden into a 24-second clock violation at the other end.
“I just wanted stay on his body and not let him get the three,” Bazemore said. “I got my big guys to protect the rim, so my job was easy.”
Horford followed with the driving layup to make it 117-115, before Millshap swatted away close-in shots by Trevor Ariza and Howard.
“At that point,” Horford said, “we fought so hard we had to get this win.”
After a missed Harden drive, Teague and Horford each sank two free throws to seal the victory in the Hawks’ final game of year.
“This was exciting, a fun game to be a part of,” Millsap said. “I’m glad we can end 2015 with a win.”

Elsewhere
Cleveland Cavaliers 93, Denver Nuggets 87: LeBron James scored 34 points, Iman Shumpert added a season-high 16 off the bench and the road-weary Cavs (21-9) beat the Nuggets to complete a 2-2 west coast trip.
Backup Will Barton had 29 points to pace the injury-depleted Denver (12-20) which lost for sixth time in the last seven games.

New York Knicks 108, Detroit Pistons 86: Carmelo Anthony scored 24 points, backup Derrick Williams added 16 of his 18 in the final quarter, as the Knicks (15-18) pulled away to beat the visiting Pistons and snap a four-game slide.
Turkish-native Ersan Ilyasova paced Detroit (17-15) with 19 points while Reggie Jackson had 17 with nine assists.

Memphis Grizzlies 99, Miami Heat 90 (OT): Spaniard Marc Gasol scored seven of his 23 points in overtime despite a sore left ankle, Zach Randolph had 17 and the Grizzlies (18-16) beat the visiting Heat.
Chris Bosh netted 22 points and Dwyane Wade had 19 for Miami (18-13) who were outscored 16-7 in the extra five-minute session.

Oklahoma City Thunder 131, Milwaukee Bucks 123: Russell Westbrook dropped in 27 points, Kevin Durant had 26, and the Thunder received a big lift off the bench to beat the visiting Bucks despite Khris Middleton’s career-high 36.
Reserves Enes Kanter had 23 points with eight rebounds, and rookie Cameron Payne netted a career-best 16 for the Thunder (22-10) who have won 11 of the last 14 contests.
Middleton received help from Giannis Antetokounmpo, who had 27 points with 10 rebounds while Michael Carter-Williams netted 19 as Milwaukee (12-21) dropped to 3-15 on the road.