Houston Rockets: Weekend Back-To-Back Epitomizes Season
The Houston Rockets up-and-down season was epitomized this weekend with their Jekyll and Hyde performance in a back-to-back set.
The Houston Rockets season has been an up-and-down one right from the start. They have struggled with chemistry issues, as the roster does not blend well together at times. They fired their head coach, Kevin McHale, making him the scapegoat for the early season effort.
Despite all of that, the Rockets are still clinging onto a spot in the Western Conference playoffs, tied with the Dallas Mavericks for seventh place.
It has been a long fall for the Rockets in a short period of time, as they were in the Western Conference Finals last season, losing to the eventual NBA Champion Golden State Warriors. Inconsistency has been the theme for the Rockets this season, as they have been consistently inconsistent. That was epitomized this weekend during their back-to-back set to finish their road trip.
The Rockets finished their road trip against two of the hotter teams in the NBA, the Boston Celtics and Charlotte Hornets. Both teams were riding lengthy winning streaks, as the Celtics came into the game with a 14-game home winning streak, and the Hornets had won six straight games overall.
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One of those streaks would end at the hands of the Rockets, and it was the Celtics’ home winning streak.
Despite having a losing record on the road going into the game at 15-19, the Rockets played a spirited game to knock off the Celtics. They were able to get back over the .500 mark with the victory for the first time since Feb. 6, and the three-game winning streak was the longest one they had since Jan. 22-25, when they also won three in a row.
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Defense has been a problem for the Rockets all season, but against the Celtics they brought the necessary effort to pick up a hard-earned victory, 102-98. After a slow start in the first quarter, in which they scored only 19 points, the Rockets would score at least 25 points in the remaining three quarters.
Five players scored in double-figures, with James Harden leading the way with a game-high 32. Michael Beasley chipped in 18 off the bench in 15 minutes. Overall, the Rockets shot a strong 45.5 percent from the field, making 35-of-62 from inside the three-point line.
The Rockets were able to control the pace thanks to a strong rebounding effort, as they outrebounded the Celtics 50-45 behind 12 from both Dwight Howard and Patrick Beverley, and eight from both Beasley and Trevor Ariza.
The defense was the big story though, as the Rockets held the Celtics to only 37.4 percent shooting from the field overall, and 25.8 percent from deep. The Rockets are allowing teams to shoot 46.3 percent overall on the season and 36.5 percent from the three-point line, so the effort put forth against the Celtics was nice to see in an important game.
Riding some momentum into the final game of their road trip, the Rockets looked to close out on a high note against the Hornets. With the effort that was put forth against the Celtics, it was fair to think that it could happen again the next night. But, the effort was not the same against the Hornets as it was against the Celtics.
The Hornets would blow out the Rockets on Saturday night, 125-109. The Hornets scored at least 28 points in every quarter, as the Rockets defense looked more like the sieve it has been all season. The Hornets did whatever they wanted, shooting 54.5 percent from the field overall and 48.4 percent from deep.
They also made 87.5 percent of their free throws, as they took full advantage of the Rockets shortcomings.
An early 15-point hole was too much for the Rockets to overcome, as they fell behind 34-19 at the end of the first quarter. They were able to make a game out of it in the middle quarters, pulling to within three points heading into the fourth quarter. But, they were unable to complete the comeback as the Hornets had another monster 35 point quarter to put the Rockets away.
Harden struggled mightily against the Hornets, shooting 2-of-14 from the field for only 12 points. Howard was able to record a double-double with 16 points and 13 rebounds, but there was very little else from the starting linuep; the other three players combined for only 13 points.
Beasley provided a solid scoring night with 15 points, but was -28 while on the court. Corey Brewer scored 21 points and was +7, but the problem with the Rockets, like it has been all season, was on the defensive end. The Rockets have no problem scoring points; it’s stopping the other team from doing the same that is their Achilles’ heel.
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The defensive effort level has been what has plagued the Rockets all season. This weekend’s back-to-back to finish their road trip epitomized that. They brought energy and effort all night against the Celtics for an impressive win, but then couldn’t carry it over against the Hornets, suffering a pretty rough loss to finish the road trip.