Houston Rockets Out-dueled By Golden State Warriors 98-87

The Houston Rockets were staring at the biggest match up of the season last night.

There were two undefeated teams that were about to take the court — one of them would walk away happy, the other, not so much.

It seemed that the Rockets were all-systems go for the ultimate goal of defeating the Warriors — until the dreaded news came out.

Dwight Howard, who had been on a tear as of late over the past six games, was ruled out of last night’s contest with the flu.

I totally understand why he had to sit out — it wasn’t a game with playoff implications, it was a game in early November which could easily be padded with a bunch of wins later down the road.

I had no problem with him sitting out.

However, his timing couldn’t have been worse against an opponent that is a carbon-copy of the Rockets.

It also didn’t help that the Rockets announced that Patrick Beverley and Terrence Jones will be out at least a week while they heal from various injuries.

Regardless, it’s about the next man up and for awhile there, those who were up were able to keep with the Warriors.

Nov 8, 2014; Houston, TX, USA; Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) attempts to score during the second quarter against the Houston Rockets at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

An all-out effort on both sides of the floor would be needed and it was up the Rockets to decide if they were going to do that.

Anyway, the first few minutes of the basketball game were horrendous, they were ice-cold right out the gate.

The Rockets continued to have opportunities to shoot by either defending well or getting the offensive rebound but they just could not get the ball in the hoop.

The team started out shooting 0-for-7 until Tarik Black dunked the ball with 8:53 left in the 1st quarter putting the Rockets on the board.

But James Harden and Isaiah Canaan both teamed up to turn over the Rockets’ sputtering engine of an offense.

Even Jason Terry drew a foul veteran-style from the three-point line allowing Stephen Curry to fall into him giving him three shots at the line.

Terry, a prolific free throw shooter, sank all three and got a three-pointer the old-fashioned way.

Nov 8, 2014; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Rockets guard Isaiah Canaan (0) shoots during the fourth quarter as Golden State Warriors guard Shaun Livingston (34) defends at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Canaan remained on fire, providing a pair of three pointers, along with key buckets/free throws and distributing the ball effectively to keep the Rockets up by four at the end of the 1st. Rockets 29, Warriors 25

The 2nd quarter was one of comfort of the Rockets as Harden took over and carried the team on his shoulders — Donatas Motiejunas also provided some solid offense with a couple of three-pointers to boot.

He even hit a three-ball at the buzzer before the half to provide an exclamation point that the Rockets weren’t going to back down because they were short-handed.

The Rockets pushed their lead to eight with that shot leading the Warriors at the half 56-48.

The Rockets came out the half shooting cold once again and that’s when the Warriors pounced on the opportunity to chip away at the Rockets’ lead.

Andre Iguodala ate everybody’s lunch and for awhile there, the team couldn’t find an answer for him.

The Warriors went on a 20-4 run from the 11-minute mark to the five-minute mark capped off by a Iguodala reverse dunk and a Bogut reverse layup putting them up 70-60 over the Rockets.

Nov 8, 2014; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Rockets guard Jason Terry (31) shoots during the fourth quarter as Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green (23) defends at Toyota Center. The Warriors defeated the Rockets 98-87. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Luckily, Terry was able to stop the bleeding with a three-pointer of his own.

The Rockets hung in there and they ended the 3rd trailing by seven. Warriors 76, Rockets 69

The 4th quarter involved the Rockets fighting hard to get back in the game and that’s when D-Mo came alive.

He was totally unconscious, swishing turnaround jumpers and rolling away reverse layups with finesse.

After a pair of turnovers by a Leandro Barbosa goaltend and Shaun Livingston losing the ball to go out-of-bounds, D-Mo helped the team pull within one. Warriors 78, Rockets 77

After a pair of free throws were made by Curry off a Canaan foul, Canaan fired back with a three at the top key that was nothing but net tying the game at 80-all.

What happened next?

Harden telegraphed a pass and took a bad shot that cost the Rockets dearly — Curry was the chief recipient of the team’s miscues, managing to reel of 12 points in the last six minutes of the game to effectively put the game out of reach for the Rockets. He ended with 34 points on the night.

It seemed as if Harden tried to make things happen by drawing fouls but it was simply too little, too late.

The damage had been done and Rockets found themselves on the losing end 98-87.

There are no moral victories in professional sports but this would be the closest I’d characterize this.

The team was without 3/5ths of its starting lineup and still took the Warriors to the brink.

That’s quite admirable.

Harden and Canaan led all scorers with 22 and 21 points respectively. Harden had seven dimes along with 5-for-6 shooting from the charity stripe.

Nov 8, 2014; Houston, TX, USA; Golden State Warriors guard Andre Iguodala (9) drives to the basket as Houston Rockets forward Donatas Motiejunas (20) defends during the first half at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

I was hoping D-Mo would step up last night in comparison to Thursday’s nights pitiful performance.

He certainly did with 16 points, eight rebounds and two steals in 30 minutes of action.

This was not one of Trevor Ariza‘s best shooting nights — he went 3-for-16 — but he still played hard-nosed defense and was the team’s leading board-snatcher with 11.

Kostas Papanikolaou had 10 rebounds but his five turnovers marred his performance.

It wasn’t a great shooting night for the Rockets — 35 percent from the field (30-for-86), 24 percent from the arc (10-for-42) and but looked quite solid from the free-throw line at 81 percent (17-for-21). One could attribute the free-throw stat to Harden.

Nonetheless, I was optimistic in hoping that the Rockets would run the table 82-0 but sometimes things just aren’t meant to be.

Short-Handed Houston Rockets Out-dueled By Golden State Warriors 98-87

By Brian K. Patterson | Nov 9, 2014