Rockets 123, Atlanta Hawks 104

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Rockets fly by Hawks, 123-104

Delfino scored 22 and dished 8 dimes off the bench

Posted: December 31, 2012 -- 10:04 p.m. CST.

HOUSTON, TX -- The Houston Rockets improved to 9-2 at home in games played on New Year's Eve with a 123-104 thumping of the Atlanta Hawks Monday night in front of a sold out crowd of 18,160 fans. James Harden scored 28 points to lead the Rockets; but, Carlos Delfino was the big factor in the win. Delfino missed the last two games due to food poisioning (blame Manu Ginobli); but, tonight he made the Hawks sick to their stomach with 22 points (8 for 10 field goals overall, 6 for 8 three-pointers) and eight assists (zero turnovers) in 29 plus minutes.

"When you start making the first couple of shots, you feel better," Delfino said.

The Hawks led the Rockets early in the first quarter 14-9; but, the Rockets tied the game at 14, 19, and 21. The Rockets trailed 27-26 at the end of the quarter before erupting for 20 points in the first six minutes of the second quarter.

Delfino nailed two three-pointers and assisted on two buckets during the spurt as the Rockets raced to a 46-31 lead with 6:29 remaining til halftime. Minutes later, Delfino dished to Marcus Morris for a slam dunk and the Rockets led 58-37.

The Rockets (17-14) led by 64-46 at halftime.

The Hawks (19-10) cut the lead down to eight (72-64) in less than six minutes in third quarter; but, Delfino, once again dished out assists to increase the lead to 79-66. When the Hawks pulled within 81-73, Delfino splashed in a three to up the lead to 11 points.

Delfino scored a fastbreak layup and Toney Douglas added a layup to give the Rockets a 90-73 lead with 26.8 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

The Hawks outscored the Rockets 22 to 12 in the first six plus minutes of the fourth quarter to get within 102-97; but, (you know who delivered one more time, Delfino made a key three-point shot to kick start an 8-0 run which put the game away.

"He (Delfino) played really well for us tonight," Kevin McHale said after the game. "We needed him, too. Carlos was great. Carlos just came in and moved the ball, made shots, had 8 assists. He really played well."

Delfino added, "When we share the ball, we pass the ball, we find the open guy; and, we hit shots. We played together. When we play together, it's much easier. That's the way we make runs and; today, we were able to do that."

The Rockets outscored the Hawks 48 to 38 in the paint and 26 to 21 on fastbreak points. The Rockets shot 61.5% (24 of 39 field goals in the first half) and finished the game at 53.6% (45 of 84) field goals. Thirty of the baskets came from assists.

"You have to give credit where credit is due," said Larry Drew, Hawks head coach. "Houston is a very hard team for us to match up with. The fact that they do such a phenomenal job, we have a hard time defending this team.

"Delfino came in and made some threes and that really hurt us."