Yao, Rockets rout Hawks
(NBA.com)
Updated: 2004-12-16 15:16

Yao Ming led the Houston Rockets on both ends of the floor.

Yao scored 23 points and blocked a season-high five shots as the Houston Rockets posted an easy 92-69 victory over the Atlanta Hawks.

Houston Rockets' Yao Ming (11), of China, works for position against Atlanta Hawks' Jason Collier, right, during the third quarter Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2004 in Houston. [AP]

Houston held Atlanta under 20 points in each quarter except the fourth en route to surrendering a season low in points.

"I try to contest every shot," Yao said. "If I can have an effect on every shot, that's good. Coach (Jeff Van Gundy) tells me I have to jump quick."

The Rockets took control in the third quarter as Yao scored seven points in a 12-4 burst that stretched the advantage to 53-40.

"The second half was good," Van Gundy said. "We all know that (Atlanta) played an overtime game last night, so that had a lot to do with it. Particularly the first half, they were bad and we had very little to do with it. The second half, I thought we played much harder and I thought (Bob) Sura started with some ball pressure, so I thought that was better."

Atlanta struggled mightily in the third period, scoring just 11 points on 5-of-19 shooting with seven turnovers, three by Al Harrington. Yao equaled the Hawks with 11 in the quarter.

"The third quarter was a good start for us," Yao said. "Everyone kept communicating defensively and helping. We kept moving our feet."

"I just tried to stay aggressive defensively," said Rockets guard Tracy McGrady, who had three of his four steals in the period. "If you back off and let your guard down, it hurts not only yourself, but your team as well. We just let the defense help out, and we did a great job."

McGrady scored nine of his 25 points in the last three-plus minutes for Houston, which has won four of five during its season-long six-game homestand that ends against Golden State.

The Rockets forced a season-best 23 turnovers in winning their sixth straight home game over Atlanta.

Harrington scored 21 points and rookie Josh Smith added a season-best 14 for the Hawks but committed six turnovers each. Antoine Walker scored just eight points on 3-of-18 shooting.

Atlanta shot just 34 percent (27-of-79), including 1-of-11 from 3-point range.

"I don't know how we got down by so much," Smith said. "We were playing as hard as we could, but we couldn't knock down our shots."

Coach Mike Woodson was frustrated by the Hawks' ineptitude as they lost for the 13th time in 15 games.

"It was not a good game," the former Rocket said. "We were flat all across the board and there was nothing good about tonight's game. I'm looking at the stats and we outrebounded them, and that's about it."

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