Late basket helps Hawks extend roll

ATLANTA --- Josh Smith spent most of the fourth quarter cheering on his teammates from the bench.

He was on the court, though, for the biggest play of the game.

After sitting for all but 44 seconds of the final period because of foul trouble, Smith soared through the lane to drop in a missed shot with 0.7 seconds remaining and the Atlanta Hawks won their seventh in a row, beating the Houston Rockets 105-103 Friday night to maintain the NBA's best record.

Marvin Williams scored a season-high 29 points, but it was Smith who came through at the end for the Hawks (11-2).

Carl Landry hit a pair of free throws with five seconds left to cap Houston's 11-1 run that tied the game at 103. The Hawks got the ball to Mike Bibby, whose 17-foot jumper bounced off the front of the rim. But Smith flew right down the middle of the lane, grabbed the rebound with both hands and softly it back in while the Rockets screamed for basket interference.

Replays showed the ball had cleared the cylinder before Smith touched it.

"All I wanted to do was crash the boards," Smith said. "In case he missed, I wanted to be there. I wanted him to make the shot, but I was there for the miss."

Williams had been one of the few disappointments in Atlanta's brilliant start. He had not scored more than 14 points in a game, but he had 13 in the opening quarter and passed his previous high before halftime.

"He was phenomenal," Hawks coach Mike Woodson said. "He was solid from beginning to end. We went to him. He continued to make them."

Houston outworked the Hawks on the boards much of the night -- getting 20 offensive rebounds -- and had a commanding 29-14 edge in second-chance points. The Rockets led 88-82 with seven minutes left after Aaron Brooks blew right by Johnson for a layup.

"They have a lot of guys who are not very athletic," Smith said. "But they get offensive rebounds. They killed us all night getting offensive rebounds."

Atlanta took over from there, turning up the defensive pressure and ripping off a 13-0 spurt.

"The guys battled back, but we had a bad stretch in the fourth quarter and it cost us," Houston coach Rick Adelman said.