Recap: Houston Rockets 120 – Philadelphia 76ers 98
By Mac Wolff
Mar 27, 2014; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Rockets dancers perform during the third quarter against the Philadelphia 76ers at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
Rockets dominate in the mother of all trap games, as they move the 76ers to 26 straight losses.
What the hell James Anderson? Why you gotta keep doin us like that? Two of his top three scoring games have come against the Rockets this year and he notched 30 tonight. My theory is that a feud emerged between Anderson and Morey during a heated game of ping pong, or as the Chinese say, “ping pong”, and in a fit of nerd rage Daryl banned him from the team HBOGo account. Anderson continues to seek his revenge against all of Houston in the form of abnormally good shooting nights. Or at least that’s what my guy on the inside says.
The HBO-less Anderson played well but when you play well on the 76ers it usually doesn’t make much of an impact. The Houston starters just absolutely took it to Philadelphia, winning all four quarters and generally outclassing the 76ers. It was an absolute exhibition of athleticism and flare that would have made Slamball proud. The Rockets clearly had no interest in finishing any break in a mundane fashion, which led to quite a few turnovers, but equally as many beautiful plays.
Philly has maybe one player that would crack the Rockets’ rotation in Thad Young, and despite keeping themselves in it early with some streaky three point shooting, they never legitimately challenged the talent that Houston put on the floor. So in order to recap this game I’m going to talk about important stuff in my still poorly titled and still recurring in blowout games section called:
Things I Think Are Important From Tonight’s Game
A Knee to the (Red) Bulls
Only a few minutes into the first quarter, Patrick “RedBull” Beverley came up with a limp. It wasn’t dramatic, and it was actually hard to tell what part of him was hurt. He had been a game time decision with flu like symptoms so Red Nation hoped he was just a little nauseous as we watched him slowly stroll towards the locker room. Unfortunately it appears to be a knee strain. Surprisingly I still haven’t seen a replay of the actual injury so it is hard to tell the severity of the situation but Patrick was clearly pretty sullen when he walked off the court.
This injury comes at a particularly bad time as Chris Paul is coming to town with his Clippers on Saturday and I’m sure Jeremy Lin could not be less thrilled about that.
The Toy Canaan
I mixed Houston sports there, but I think the Astros’ Jimmy Wynn would be cool with Isaiah jacking his nickname.
The only cool thing about Beverley going out is that we got to see Isaiah Canaan play 13 minutes and score 5 points. He hit a catch and shoot three and also added a dunk-up to his resume. This would be a good time for a Grantland style footnote, but oh well. His dunk-up came when he was given the ball with a wide open lane to the basket, then loaded up for his jam session, only to realize that he wasn’t going to get high enough to finish the dunk, so he lays it up instead. Dunk-up.
Hopefully the Toy Canaan can continue to play well, because if Bev can’t go, he is going to get a taste of the NBA at it’s finest on Saturday.
Harden’s Short and Brilliant Night
James recorded a triple double tonight in just three quarters and it was an impressive sight regardless of the opponent. 26 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists. He seems to be playing his best basketball of the season right now and the national audience is going to get one hell of a show as the Rockets begin their quest towards Western Conference Champs 11 games from now.
I Want Some Mo’, I Want Some Mo’
MO TAYLOR LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! Mo Taylor filled in for Calvin Murphy tonight with Bill Dolman on the halftime bit and it was nice to see that he has apparently taken care of himself after leaving the league. He seemed a little nervous but he did fine overall. Now if we can just get Bonzi Wells or Stromile Swift as our sideline reporter, that would be clutch.
A Bench That Is Second To…Everyone
The second unit had another lackluster game, actually letting the 76ers tie it up at 43 with six minutes left in the second quarter. Jeremy Lin played better as the game went on but struggled early along with D-Mo and Asik. Jordan Hamilton notched the lowest +/- at -15, so yeah, thanks for putting the starters back in Coach.
Well that was everything that mattered to me on this humid Houston night, you have some legit thoughts or rants to throw down? Leave them in the comments and I’ll praise you for your insight, fist bump you for your brodacity, or berate you for your bullishness.
Also, sorry for using brodacity.
The statistical knitty-gritty is here.
The Rockets do it again on Saturday at 7PM CST against the Los Angeles Clippers.