Rockets hold off Hawks, 119-111

Posted: February 25, 2019 -- 11:59 p.m.

HOUSTON, TX (Toyota Center) -- The Houston Rockets used balanced scoring to overcome rookie Trae Young's 36 points and 8 assists in a 119-111 victory Monday night. Six players scored in double digits for the Rockets. James Harden scored a game-high 28 points for Houston. Harden's scoring streak of scoring 30 or more points ends at 32 consecutive games. Harden isn't concerned the streak ended. He's glad the Rockets won the game.

"The streak was great; but, I was just doing it because that's what we had to do in order to keep our heads above water," Harden said. "But, (now) we have a full roster back. Look at the stat line. We had multiple guys in double-figures which is great to see."

Chris Paul scored 20 points and added 8 assists and 6 rebounds. Eric Gordon scored 16 points off the bench. Kenneth Faried scored 15 points and pulled down 10 rebounds for his second straight double-double. Clint Capela scored 12 points; and, Gerald Green added 11 points in 13 minutes off the bench.

Houston (35-25) outscored the Hawks 39-28 in the first quarter and led 49-37 with 9:14 on the clock in the second quarter. The Hawks used a 16-3 run to lead 53-52.

The game was tied at 60 at the half. Trae Young scored 12 of his 18 first half points in the second quarter to help the Hawks win the second period 32-21.

Eric Gordon made three 3-point shots in the third quarter and scored 11 points to lead the Rockets to a 35-25 quarter and lead 95-85 after 36 minutes.

The Hawks scored the first 9 points in the fourth quarter and trailed 95-94 before PJ Tucker sank a three-pointer. However, Young sank a three-point shot to cut the Rockets' lead to 98-97 with 8:05 remaining in the fourth period.

Chris Paul nailed a corner three-pointer in front of the Hawks' bench to boost Houston's margin to 4. Capela scored a left-handed hook shot in the paint for a 103-97 lead. The Hawks did not get closer than 4 points the rest of the game.

Young scored 11 points in the fourth quarter; but, Houston limited Young's touches on offense down the stretch.

"They're getting better and the little guy – Trae Young is good," Rockets Head Coach Mike D'Antoni said after the game. That's my first time really seeing him and I've seen him enough already."

Harden missed all 10 of his three-point shot attempts tonight; however, he did not use his cervical / shoulder strain as an excuse.

"I don't care. We won," Harden said in the locker room after the game. "Made shots. Missed shots. We won the game. We've got 22 more games left to kind of catch rhythm and find a rhythm for where we are trying to go."

Since losing its first four home games, the Rockets have gone 21-5 at Toyota Center.

"We're trying to figure out the rotation," Chris Paul acknowledged. "It's been a while since we've had everybody healthy. So, just figuring it out and right now trying to pile up wins."

The Rockets used their 18th different starting lineup of the season tonight versus Atlanta (Game #60). Houston used 17 different starting lineups in all of 2017-18. PJ Tucker is the only Rocket to have started (and to have played) all 60 games this season.

NOTES:

Rookie Trae Young had a career-high 36 points while hitting a career-best 8 3-pointers. He has scored 30+ points in three of the past 14 games after doing so once prior in his career.

"He's hooping," Chris Paul said of Trae Young. "I watch games every night. I talk to Trae (Young) pretty often and watch him. It's funny, because Coach and everybody was like ‘man, he can play’ (and) I was like ‘yeah, we knew that’. When he's shooting it like that, because he's so good with handling the ball and passing, and stuff like that. I wasn't surprised."

Dating back to last season, the Rockets are 32-6 when Paul has 20+ points. He also had 8 assists with just one turnover tonight. Since having 4 assists with 6 turnovers at Phoenix on 2/4, Paul has an assist-to-turnover ratio of 6.08 over the past seven games with nearly as many steals (11) as turnovers (12) over that span.

NEXT:

The Rockets' next game is Wednesday, February 27, in Charlotte, versus the Hornets, at 6 p.m.

CLICK HERE for The HRR's Rockets' write-ups.