It’s better to win the rock fight.
Tonight the Rockets won their third straight game. It’s not a huge feat, as the last three opponents were Pelicans, Pelicans and Magic. It is a bit surprising that the Magic should be in this category, at 30-36 after this game, while the Rockets hit 40 wins, with 17 games remaining.
Of the two teams, a casual observer might have rated Orlando as the stronger squad with the best prospects coming into this season. They did make the playoffs last season, while the Rockets didn’t. This year it’s the Rockets that are the current playoff team, with Orlando more or less in freefall since the Jalen Suggs injury. Orlando has had bad injury luck this season, but it’s hard to explain how their offense is as bad as it is.
Honestly, tonight’s showing from the Magic sometimes made the Rockets feel like a well oiled machine (they weren’t). It also gave some view into what playing the Rockets might look like to an opponent – a tough physical defense, typically let down by bad offense.
Tonight it was the Magic playing all the Rockets’ hits – failing to finish at the rim, missing open three pointers, drifting aimless through their sets, being befuddled by basic zone defense. Orlando’s only reliable offense was to drive at the basket and hope to shoot free throws. They really didn’t have anything else.
We also saw that the Rockets prospects, on the whole, might well be better than those of Orlando, going forward.
Tonight the Rockets faced another team running a big lineup, with the Magic and their various centers, Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner, Jonathan Isaac and other big players. The Rockets countered with Sengun, Adams and Smith, and it worked. It really worked in the case of Steven Adams who had, by some distance, his best performance as a Rocket.
Adams played 23 minutes, but scored 11 points on 5-6 shooting and grabbed 17 rebounds, a staggering 11 of which came on the offensive glass. The Rockets may not have shot the ball well at 39% overall, and they may have foolishly given the ball away, for 19 turnovers, but their rebounding and slightly better shooting lead to the win. Despite their 19 turnovers, the Rockets put up 89 shots to the Magic’s 83.
The Rockets also shot more three point shots, and shot them better. The Rockets were 16-43 from three, for a respectable 37%, while Orlando was 8-22, for 25%. That three point shooting, along with the offensive rebounding, won them this game.
Jabari Smith didn’t outscore Paolo Banchero from his draft cohort, but he arguably did outplay him, despite not being the offensive focus of the Rockets. Jabari was 5-13 overall, but 5-10 from three point range, and had 7 rebounds and one spectacular chase down block in 32 minutes. The Big Banker had 25 points, but on 10-23 shooting, with 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal and 1 block.
Jalen Green’s shooting night wasn’t the best, and he had some silly turnovers, but he passed it well enough to garner 8 assists, and grabbed 7 boards.
Alperen Sengun had 14 points, and 14 rebounds, along with 3 assists. He did have trouble with Orlando’s Jonathan Isaac in the paint, while the Magic quickly abandoned their ideas of playing only one defender on him, and instead sent lots of help.
Overall, this game was a late 1990s sort of scoreline, and featured the same sort of hapless looking offense at times, but the Rockets are fully prepared to win a rock fight, filled with physical play. Some might say it’s what they prefer.