Houston Rockets Obliterate New York Knicks 120-96
By Travis Oquin
The Houston Rockets headed up to the Big Apple to take on the New York Knicks tonight in the 3rd game of the current three-game road trip. It was also the 2nd night of a back-to-back for the Rockets.
The Knicks already having the worst record in the league, came into the game at 5-33 and on a 13-game losing streak. They were also significantly depleted with injuries to stars Carmelo Anthony, Amar’e Stoudemire and Andrea Bargnani as well as this week’s trade of guards J.R. Smith, Iman Shumpert and the release of Samuel Dalembert. In other words, the Knicks team that the Rockets would face was just slightly better than you would expect a D-League team to be.
Coming into the game, Kevin McHale considered resting some of the Rockets key starters; however, it was reported that the players said to McHale that following the recent trades and their struggles since then to gain continuity and consistency, that they wanted to play in the game.
The Rockets once again chose to go with the starting group of Patrick Beverley, James Harden, Trevor Ariza, Donatas Motiejunas and Dwight Howard with Josh Smith, Corey Brewer and Jason Terry coming off the bench to form their eight-man rotation. A formula that has shown much more success in the past four games than when Josh Smith was first acquired.
The Rockets predictably jumped out to a quick start in the first quarter. Ariza got things going early with a couple three-pointers showing the improved rhythm that he’s had in the past few games.
Jan 8, 2015; New York, NY, USA; Houston Rockets guard
James Harden(13) shoots on a technical foul shot during the first quarter against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports
Harden was also attacking the basket early and getting to the free throw line, something he hasn’t done as much of in recent games as referees have been reluctant to give him the calls on his drives as they normally have. When Harden hit a driving layup with 3:54 to go, the Rockets had raced out to a 10-point lead with the score being 22-12.
McHale began his substitutions a little earlier than normal, likely hoping to wrap this game up early and turn it over to the bench and give the starters some rest.
However, after Travis Wear threw in a prayer of a three-pointer that banked in followed on the next possession by a put-back slam from Langston Galloway the Knicks managed to cut the lead to five at the end of the quarter, with the Rockets leading 27-22. Ariza led all scorers with eight points at that point.
Starting the 2nd quarter, with Harden on the bench and Rockets trying to work through Howard, the Rockets looked extremely sluggish. Howard struggled to convert low-post possessions and following Smith clanking an ill-advised three-pointer and a couple turnovers at the 8:48 mark, McHale sent the starters back in with the score being 30-28 Rockets.
Harden very quickly made his presence felt, knocking down a corner-three followed by a steal on the defensive end, accentuated with a dunk for a quick five points, giving him 12 total in the game so far.
The Rockets then went on a stretch of a couple minutes where the ball movement was outstanding — Harden went to Ariza on the break, penetrated, then dished it off to Ariza, followed by a Beverley drive-and-dish to Smith and the Rockets had run the lead up to 13 points with a score of 45-32.
To close out the 1st half, Harden banked in a three-pointer from the top-of-the-arch on a shot that he was clearly just looking for a foul on. The Rockets led at the half 56-42 — Harden had 17 points in addition to Ariza’s 15. Wear was the leader off the bench with 11 points off 3-for-4 shooting from three-point range.
The Rockets came out in the 2nd half going to Howard who converted back-to-back inside buckets, an And-1 for a quick six, running the lead up to 20 points.
The game, from a competitive standpoint, started to fall apart as Knicks started to look defeated, despite the rah, rah time-out speeches from Derek Fisher.
The Rockets continued to get more from Howard in the quarter and he was the man of the 3rd quarter with 11 points. Beverley also warmed up with a couple of three-pointers — at 5:01 in the quarter, the Rockets had gone up 83-56, a 27-point lead, their highest of the game.
The Rockets continued toying with the Knicks and closed out the quarter with threes from Harden — eventually he’d go on to score 25 points — and Corey Brewer to keep their lead over Knicks 93-69 at the end of the 3rd quarter.
The Rockets began the 4th quarter with Harden and Howard officially done for the night as it was clear the Knicks were waving their surrender flag.
It only took three minutes for McHale to have seen enough of the Jekyll-and-Hyde Smith who looked completely disinterested in playing against the Knicks after a couple good games against the Chicago Bulls and Cleveland Cavaliers. Smith, against the Knicks went back to the type of play that got him released in Detroit. We’re going to have to see the good Josh Smith more often or he’s quickly going to fall out of favor with the Rockets and their fans.
Jan 8, 2015; New York, NY, USA; Houston Rockets guard
Jason Terry(31) drives up to the net during the second quarter against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports
In the 4th quarter, we were treated by the Rockets being able to get plenty of action out of their bench. Brewer and Jason Terry led the way with eight points each in the quarter as the game hovered mostly between 20- and 25-point leads. The group had excellent ball movement and flow to close the game out.
Final score: Rockets 120, Knicks 96 as the Rockets amassed their highest point-total of the season.
For the game, the Rockets were 16-of-36 on their threes for a strong 44.4 percent. The Rockets also shot 52.2 percent from the floor.
Harden led all scorers with 25 and added in nine assists as well as he continues to score and distribute. But there was plenty of scoring to go around on this night as all five starters in addition to Terry and Brewer finishing with double figures.
The stat line on Smith was two points, one rebound, three turnovers and five fouls in 19 minutes of play. With Terrence Jones on the mend and hopefully on the way back, a few more performances like this from Smith and we have to wonder if he is simply playing his way out of the NBA. But to McHale’s credit, he doesn’t appear to be putting up with it and is pulling him out of games when necessary.
The Rockets finished up their three-game road trip with a 2-1 record and come back home Toyota Center to face the Utah Jazz this Saturday night.
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