NBA scores 2015: Hawks come back from 18 down to beat James Harden-less Rockets

Atlanta picked up its fifth straight win with a comeback home victory over the Rockets, plus three other things we learned in the NBA on Tuesday night.

by Yaron Weitzman

Mar 4, 2015, 2:00 PM UTC

Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

Part Of

NBA schedule and results: Russell Westbrook notches another triple double

see all updates

For three and a half quarters on Tuesday, it looked like the Rockets would pull it off. It didn't matter that James Harden was out after being suspended one game for kicking the King's royal groin on Sunday or that they were playing the East's top team on the road.

An early 16-0 run put Houston out in front, and the Rockets stayed there, at one point even leading by 18. With 10:32 left in the game, Houston held a 15-point lead. The game looked to be over.

And then everything fell apart. Suddenly the three-pointers stopped falling for Houston. Jeff Teague couldn't be stopped as the Hawks pecked away slowly. A 19-3 fourth quarter run got them back into the game, which they eventually went on to win, 104-96. The victory was the Hawks' fifth in a row. They're now 48-12 and tied with the Warriors for fewest losses in the league.

With the loss, which was perfectly summed up afterwards by General Manager Daryl Morey (see below), Houston fell to 41-19. The team, though, is still in third place in the Western Conference.

Well, that game was a kick to the #!%##!
— Daryl Morey (@dmorey) March 4, 2015

Jeff Teague led the way for the Hawks with 25 points and six assists. Atlanta outscored Houston by 23 points in the 31 minutes that Teague was on the floor. He created shots for himself and his teammates.

With Harden out, the Rockets had no one who could do that for them. Instead they had to rely on hitting contested jump shots. This turned out to be the difference in the game.

Teague was also great on the defensive end of the floor. Along with Dennis Schroeder (16 points, eight assists), who took some backcourt minutes from the struggling Kyle Korver (5 points on 2-of-6 shooting) in the fourth quarter, Teague was able to keep Houston's guards out of the paint and prevent them from getting open looks. Houston shot 44 percent from the field in the game, but was held to 23 percent shooting in the fourth quarter and went scoreless for one near-four minute stretch. Of the Rockets' 21 fourth-quarter shots, 15 came from behind the three-point line, and the team only attempted two free throws in the game's final 12 minutes.

Jason Terry (21 points in 28 minutes off the bench) did all he could to carry the load in Harden's absence, but in the fourth quarter there was just nothing he, or anyone else on the Rockets, could do.

SB Nation presents: LeBron’s nutshot from Harden and more nutshots through the years

3 other things we learned

The Wizards are really in trouble. Washington played a Bulls team on Tuesday that was missing Derrick Rose and Jimmy Butler. Washington got 21 points and 11 assists from John Wall, yet somehow the Wizards still managed to lose, 97-92. Washington has now lost 12 of its last 15 games and dropped to 34-27 on the year. The Bucks are a real threat to pass the Wizards for the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference. Washington doesn't have to worry about missing the playoffs this year, but if it doesn't get things figured out soon, a season that once looked promising is going to completely slip away.

Rudy Gobert is one of the best young centers in the league. Now that Enes Kanter is out of town, Gobert is getting the chance to shine. Shine he has. The 22-year-old 7'2 center went for 15 points and 24 rebounds to lead the Jazz to an 11-point victory in Memphis. Again, that was while facing the Grizzlies and Marc Gasol. The Jazz have now won three games in a row, and between the emergence of Gobert and the continued steady play of Gordon Hayward, things in Salt Lake City are beginning to look up.

The Celtics are not ready to make a playoff run. After winning three in a row last week, it seemed like the new-look Celtics, now boasting a legitimate orchestrator at point guard in Isaiah Thomas, might be poised to make a run at the eight seed in the East. Not so fast. The Celtics got thrashed in Cleveland on Tuesday night, falling to the Cavaliers 110-79. Thomas, who came in averaging 21.8 points in five games with the Celtics, was held to 11 points on 4-of-13 shooting. Boston allowed LeBron James to score 27 points in 25 minutes (James also passed Ray Allen on the all-time scoring list). The Celtics are now 23-35 and two games behind the Nets for the Eastern Conference's final playoff spot.