Yao also added 16 rebounds and seven assists for the Rockets, who rebounded from a 97-88 loss at Dallas on Saturday. Cuttino Mobley contributed 28 points in a staggering 59 minutes of action in this contest. Mobley played 45 minutes against Dallas and was on the court for a remarkable 104 minutes in the last two days.
Jason Terry recovered form a sub-par first three quarters and finished with 27 points in the losing effort, Atlanta’s third straight. Terry was just 2-of-13 shooting before hitting nine of his last 10 shots down the stretch.
"I didn’t realize how many overtimes it was," Terry said of the classic contest.
The revamped Hawks had three new players in uniform for this contest — forward Chris Mills, center Zeljko Rebraca and guard Bob Sura. All three players were acquired prior to the trade deadline on Thursday in a three-team deal that made Rasheed Wallace’s stay in Atlanta short-lived.
Playing for the first time in weeks, Rebraca finished with a season-high 18 points on 9-of-13 shooting. Sura posted season highs with 14 points and seven assists in his debut with Atlanta.
The Rockets trailed by one after a free throw by Sura with 37.9 seconds left in the third overtime, but Yao was able to hit the difficult turnaround jumper through a double team to put the Rockets ahead for good.
"I thought we needed every play we could get down the stretch from a lot of different guys. Yao obviously came through with a lot of big baskets," Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said.
Atlanta then missed a contested shot down low and Mobley was eventually fouled to earn two shots from the line. He hit just 1-of-2 to extend the Rockets’ lead to two. Sura was then unable to convert despite some contact on a driving layup in the waning seconds, allowing Houston to emerge victorious.
"I definitely got fouled but they didn’t call it," Sura said of his last- second attempt.
Sura came up big for his new team with a clutch basket that drew the Hawks within 92-91 with 32.5 seconds to play in regulation. After Yao produced the game’s next basket, a layup after a scramble down low with 25.3 seconds remaining, Atlanta responded again when Chris Crawford hit a big three-pointer from the left wing to tie the score at 94-94 with 25 seconds remaining.
Jim Jackson then came up short on an 18-foot jumper that would have given the Rockets the victory, allowing the game to head into overtime.
Atlanta built a three-point lead in the first overtime period after Terry converted on a foul-line jumper with the shot-clock running out, giving Atlanta a 107-104 advantage with 14.2 seconds left. Steve Francis, though, hit a three-pointer from the corner moments later to even the score with 2.9 seconds remaining.
Terry had a chance to end the game as the buzzer sounded but his layup attempt rimmed out, sending the contest into a second overtime.
The run of magical three-pointers continued in the second overtime. First it was Terry who hit a 30-foot heave to break a tie with 54.3 seconds left, giving Atlanta a 114-111 lead. After an unsuccessful offensive possession by each team, Jackson drained a three-pointer from the right corner with seconds remaining. Atlanta then failed to convert at the buzzer, sending the game into yet another extra session.
Jackson finished with 17 points and Francis chipped in 16 points, nine assists and eight rebounds for the Rockets, who improved to 19-8 at home this season.
"It was crucial. We got the win at home against an East team," Francis said. "We were definitely in need of a win after losing our last game."
The first quarter was an offensive exhibition and ended with Atlanta holding a slim 31-30 advantage after 12 minutes. Both teams shot the ball especially well in the first quarter, with Atlanta hitting 14-of-21 shots and Houston 10- of-17. Yao led all scorers with 10 points in the period, connecting on four of his five attempts from the field.
Atlanta opened with a 12-3 run to start the second quarter, ignited by a pair of baskets by Rebraca, to claim a 43-33 lead with 7:54 to play in the half.
The Rockets, though, got hot late in the period and closed the quarter with a 7-2 run in the final two minutes of the half. Two free throws by Clarence Weatherspoon in the waning seconds brought Houston within 51-49 at the break.
The game see-sawed back and forth, and after four lead changes, the Hawks eventually went into the fourth quarter with a slim 71-69 advantage.
The Rockets allowed 100 or more points for the first time in 29 games. Yao’s previous career high was 37 points on January 25 against Orlando.
Stephen Jackson had 24 points in the losing effort for the Hawks. Atlanta fell to 0-4 in overtime this season. The Hawks’ last triple-overtime affair was back on March 20, 1984 against San Antonio. Crawford finished with 19 points.
There were 20 lead changes and 18 ties in the contest.
Atlanta fell to 0-18 when it allows 100 points this season.
Atlanta Hawks 
Houston Rockets 
