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Rockets welcome Hawks to Toyota Center

Nov 27, 2013 - 3:50 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The Houston Rockets will take a two-game winning streak into Wednesday night's contest with the visiting Atlanta Hawks at Toyota Center.

The Rockets have played great basketball of late, winning five of their last six. What's even more impressive is that Houston has taken its last two without the services of star guard James Harden, who has sat with a sore left foot. Harden's availability for Wednesday is unknown, although he is not listed in the starting lineup as of Wednesday morning.

Houston's most recent victory came Monday night in Memphis, 93-86. That was an impressive showing for a Rockets team that ranks 29th in the NBA in opponents' scoring.

"They took care of the boards and did a great job defensively," said head coach Kevin McHale. "I was impressed. For us, that was a great win. We did not have a lot of rhythm, and to come out in that fourth quarter, everybody stayed together, everybody kept fighting."

The Rockets were down eight at the half and four after three, but buried the Grizzlies, 38-23 in the fourth quarter.

Chandler Parsons led the Rockets with 17 points, followed by 16 from Omar Casspi and 15 from Dwight Howard. Jeremy Lin scored 14 and Terrence Jones added 11.

The Hawks laid an egg on Tuesday night at home against the Orlando Magic. The Hawks fell, 109-92 and lost an 11-game winning streak over their Southwest Division rivals.

Atlanta got clobbered in the second half to the tune of 60-39.

"Obviously we didn't play well," acknowledged head coach Mike Budenholzer. "In the second half Orlando raised their level and we didn't respond to it. We as a group got a little out of sync, and we have to learn how to respond and react when the opponent raises their level."

The Magic shot 50.6 percent from the field, while the Hawks only managed to shoot 41.1 from the floor.

Al Horford and Jeff Teague led the Hawks with 15 points apiece. Lou Williams chipped in 11 off the bench and Paul Millsap contributed 10.

Kyle Korver only had three points, but they were a big three points. He went 1-for-6 from beyond the arc and that made 3-pointer extended his streak to 88 straight games. Korver can match Dana Barros' NBA record for consecutive games with a made 3-pointer if he hits one from long range against the Rockets.

The Rockets have won five straight against the Hawks and Atlanta has dropped 13 of its last 14 in Houston.