They were disappointed at the same time, having given up a game-winning shot to Atlanta with 1.5 seconds remaining, a particularly galling misstep when they had a foul to give and let Joe Johnson roam around the lane before finding a wide-open Mike Bibby.

The Rockets, however, had embarrassed themselves twice in the previous three games, losing badly to the Wizards and horribly to the Raptors. They didn't feel too good about the win, getting away with a listless second half to hold off the Bucks.

So with Tracy McGrady, Ron Artest and Shane Battier all out, the Rockets demonstrated the effort and fortitude horribly lacking 24 hours earlier.

"We played hard," Rockets coach Rick Adelman said, pointing to the change from the night before. "That's the effort we have to have to turn this back around. Give those guys credit. They played their hearts out. It's too bad they didn't get rewarded."

They did feel differently, yet they tacked another loss onto their record, falling to eighth in the Western Conference, with three more games ahead on the road trip. But they saw their season at a crossroads not because they had been losing, but because of the way they had been losing. Their play had to change before the results could.

"It looks a little bit different than the last few days," Yao Ming said. "I think now at least I can go to sleep and tell myself tomorrow is a new day and we start to fight again."

HAWKS 103, ROCKETS 100: The Rockets had overcome being short-handed, with Tracy McGrady, Ron Artest and Shane Battier out. They had overcome the best shooting game of the season against them, with the Hawks making 58.9 percent of their shots. They overcame a nine-point second-half deficit and a four-point deficit in the last minute. They could not, however, overcome their last mistake, when they had a foul to give and did not take it.

The Rockets allowed Joe Johnson to maneuver through the lane to set up Mike Bibby for a wide-open game-opener, and Bibby nailed a 3-pointer with 1.5 seconds left. The Rockets got a last shot, but Aaron Brooks' rushed 3 from the corner caught the rim and bounced away.