Rockets tie mark with 20th

ATLANTA -- The Houston Rockets’ 20th straight victory was far from pretty, but Coach Rick Adelman was still impressed.

The Rockets were held to their lowest first-half total of the season but pulled away late to become the third team in NBA history to win 20 consecutive games, tying for the league’s second-longest winning streak with an 83-75 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday.

“It may be the ugliest thing we’ve done, but it might have been the best one,” Adelman said, “the way we fought through it.”

The Rockets joined the 1971-72 Lakers (33 straight) and 1970-71 Milwaukee Bucks (20) as the only teams to win 20 or more in a row.

“We did enough to win,” Adelman said.

Tracy McGrady scored 21 of his 28 points in the second half for Houston, which led 71-70 with five minutes left. McGrady then scored five points in Houston’s 10-0 run to take control.

“We’re really happy with this win because we didn’t play well in the first half,” said McGrady of the Rockets, who trailed, 33-32, at halftime. “This was a pretty ugly game tonight.”

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Around the league

Washington Wizards forward Caron Butler appears set to celebrate his 28th birthday with a return to action tonight against Cleveland after missing 19 of the last 21 games because of a bad hip.