The struggle was real, the streak over. The Rockets might have been able to beat the Warriors without James Harden, but holding off the Hawks without his shot was a long, tough project.
With rookie sharpshooter Trae Young reminding of Harden offensive explosion, the Hawks chased the Rockets until the final minutes before the Rockets strung together the stops to finally secure a 119-111 win on Monday at Toyota Center.
All that was left was for Harden to shoot to keep the streak of 30-point scoring games going. He would not.
Harden had just put in a drive to give him 28 points, but dribbled out the final nine seconds with the crowd calling for one more shot, letting the streak end at 32 games, the second-longest in NBA history.