Mike Bibby connected on a three-pointer with 1.5 seconds to play to give the Atlanta Hawks a 103-100 win over the Houston Rockets on Saturday.
Bibby, the Hawks' point guard, scored off a pass from Joe Johnson to give Atlanta their sixth successive home win.
"It was a good pass," Bibby told reporters. "I told myself if I caught it I was going to shoot it. And there was enough space to get a good shot up."
The win came a day after the Hawks had lost in overtime to the New Jersey Nets on Vince Carter's three-pointer at the buzzer.
"You don't want to lose two in a row," Bibby added. "We toughed it out and got the energy we needed at the end of the game."
Josh Smith added a season-high 29 points and Johnson had 14 assists and 14 points to help the Hawks win for the seventh time in eight games.
Houston's Aaron Brooks had a chance to tie the score as time expired but missed a three-pointer.
Reserve Carl Landry paced the slumping Rockets with 18 points. Center Yao Ming added 16 points and 15 rebounds. All 16 of Yao's points came in the first half.
"They were coming at him, but we've worked on that," Rockets coach Rick Adelman told reporters.
"(Yao's) got to be solid when he gets the ball. That one play he made, he doesn't pass the ball off the dribble like that. He's got to pick it up and pass it out."
Adelman believed the Hawks should have been called for more fouls when Yao had the ball.
"It amazes me how he never gets any calls," he said. "When he moves through the lane like that, they don't look at anybody pushing on his body."
The defeat was the fifth in seven games for Houston.
Heat 101, Nets 96
At Miami, Dwyane Wade scored 29 points and made three key blocks in the closing minutes as the Miami Heat overcame a 16-point deficit to beat the New Jersey Nets 101-96 in overtime in the NBA on Saturday.
Wade did it all in the Heat's biggest comeback victory of the season.
The superstar went up high for two blocks on 7-footer Brook Lopez, including one in overtime, and swatted a jumper by Vince Carter into the stands in the final minute of regulation. Wade's 3-point play with 37.2 seconds left in overtime stretched Miami's lead to 96-88.
Trailing by 16 points in the first quarter, the Heat rode a season-high 19 points from Yakhouba Diawara and 17 points from Michael Beasley. Miami's biggest previous comeback was from 15 down against Indiana on Dec 22.
Keyon Dooling had 23 points, and Carter had 20 for the Nets.
Pacers 122, Kings 117
At Indianapolis, Danny Granger scored 13 of his 35 points in the fourth quarter in Indiana's second straight victory.
T.J. Ford had 16 points and seven assists, and Troy Murphy added 12 points and 13 rebounds.
Kevin Martin led Sacramento with a season-high 45 points, making 13 of 24 shots and a career-high seven 3-pointers. The Kings are 1-8 in their last nine games.
(Agencies via China Daily January 5, 2009)
