A Win Streak Now Exists Again.
The Rockets were back in action after an incredible 2 days off in Houston, and played their second consecutive game, also in Houston!
That doesn’t sound like much? Consider than prior to Sunday’s B2B matinee against the Raptors, the Rockets had played 8 of their previous 9 games on the road. Go back a little further and they’d played 10 of their past 15 games, including the Toronto and Phoenix games, on the road. Certainly teams must win on the road, but that’s a lot of road games stacked together, and actually more games than the San Antonio Spurs would play on the road during their vaunted “Rodeo Trips”.
That’s now behind the Rockets, and they’re looking to put losing behind them as well. They managed to do that late against the Raptors, and managed the same against Devin Durant and His Raging Randos, sorry, the Phoenix Suns.
The Suns were without Devin Booker, Bradley Beal, and “Dick” Grayson Allen tonight, after having played in a late game in a losing effort against the Memphis Grizzlies. In that game Kevin Durant reached the 30,000 point plateau in the NBA, pretty rare air, and he’s likely to rise further still. It took him 42 minutes to do it, and one wondered if he’d have to play the same minutes again, on a road SEGBABA.
In a word – yes.
Durant played 42 minutes, scored 37pts on 15-22 shooting. For three quarters the Suns, on their back to back, seemed the more energetic team. Durant’s collection of Randos had a great night:
Bol Bol – 15pts
Royce O’Neale – 14pts on 4/5 3pt
Rick Richards – 11pts on 5/5 shooting.
Ty Ty Washington in his “Revenge” Game – 11pts
Collin Gillespie 9pts on 4/5 shooting.
It seemed that ever single time the Suns shot a three pointer off a break, or early in the clock, they made it. Durant made the rest, it seemed. Overall the Suns shots 52% overall, 39% from three, and 82% from the line.
The Rockets, it seemed, didn’t play well overall.
Only, they did, especially late.
Amen Thompson seemed frustrating at times, as he’d drive into the heart of the Sun’s defense, pretty tall with Richards, Bol Bol and Durant around, and then zip a pass to an unsuspecting teammate, rather than shooting. But when you look at his numbers, well, Amen had a triple double: 18/10/11/2/2 on 7-13 shooting.
Alperen Sengun seemed timid at times, unwilling to attack the Suns. But wait, he scored 17, on 7-12 shooting, and grabbed 13 boards, dished 5 assists, had 2 steals, and a block.
Tari Eason looked like a Terror Twin again, for the first time in a while. He got the start tonight and scored 25pts on 11-15 shooting, 3-5 from 3pt range (no one guards, so that’s great) and had 9rbs, 4ast, and 3 big steals.
Dillon Brooks had Kevin Durant as his primary defensive matchup (though almost every Rocket gave it a shot, for better or worse). He still made two clutch threes late to seal a game that kept see-sawing back and forth all evening. 18pts, 4-9 3pt.
Jalen Green was less efficient, but at times was the only Rocket seemingly willing to challenge the Suns. His 22pts weren’t efficient, but they were vital. Somewhat lower efficiency can be mitigated by being willing to attempt offense, and also by actually keeping the scoreboard moving a bit, rather than the intense scoring droughts the Rockets are capable of at any time.
We also saw some good rebounding minutes for Steven Adams, and an overall nice 11 minute run from Reed Sheppard where he made both shots he took – a three pointer and a dunk, and added a rebound, an assist, and a steal. There was only one notable defensive miscue, as Reed still sometimes positions himself to steal the ball from the side of his man as he goes by him, rather than squaring up.
It was a shooting night to forget for Cam Whitmore, 2-10, but he did manage 3 assists.
Overall it was a good assist night from the Rockets, with 32, and they were back to winning the rebounding battle overall, and especially the offensive rebounding battle (17-11).
It took a late surge from the Rockets to win this one. Hopefully they won’t need that against a Warriors team that lost it late in Dallas tonight. After that comes the All Star Break, and the Rockets can definitely use it.
All the Rockets remaining games for February are back to backs. Why? Who knows?