Winners of eight of their last 10 games, the Houston Rockets continued to play clutch basketball Sunday night at Toyota Center versus the Atlanta Hawks, defeating the talented eastern conference opponent 114-109. Behind Kevin Martin's game-high 35 points and Lowry's eight assists, Houston closed the gap on the Memphis Grizzlies by a half game in the western conference standings.
Martin continued to assert his dominance and shot 11-of-19 from the floor, finishing the game with 35 points. All five Rockets' starters scored in double figures in support of Martin's scoring explosion. Sunday night's contest marked the 19th time this season Martin had scored over 30 points in a single game, which should prove to Rockets' fans that Martin is for real.
Kyle Lowry had 17 points on 5-of-12 shooting to go along with his eight dimes. Back to form once again, Luis Scola turned in another strong performance, going off for 15 points on 7-of-10 from the field. And Chuck Hayes contributed a double-double again with 19 points and 12 boards.
With only five games remaining in the regular season, Houston will effectively have to win out and hope that the Grizzlies falter over the final two weeks of the season if the Rockets are to make the post season.
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