Houston Rockets Rewind: Week 11: 01/03/2015

Another incredible week has passed for the Houston Rockets.

This time, they’ve fared better possessing a 3-1 record after last week’s 1-4 debacle.

As I proposed last week, the starting lineup of Patrick Beverley, James Harden, Trevor Ariza, Donatas Motiejunas and Dwight Howard appears to be working.

Josh Smith coming off the bench is what the doctor ordered because it seems he feels more comfortable in that role.

Besides, he still looks quite uncomfortable in that role as he is still learning Kevin McHale‘s system that he has installed for these new-look Rockets.

Although the Detroit Pistons have been quite successful since Smith was jettisoned from the team — they’re 7-1 — I think he has tremendous value here in H-Town.

He just has to understand that although he feels he has intense offensive prowess, it’s his defense that makes him an asset.

Jan 3, 2015; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Rockets forward Josh Smith (5) dunks the ball during the third quarter against the Miami Heat at Toyota Center. The Rockets defeated the Heat 115-79. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

He block shots, grabs rebounds, plays the passing lanes and can help to get his teammates involved. But his TOV% has been 20.9 since with the Rockets, nearly twice the league-average. He’ll get that shored up soon enough in his new role.

The Rockets are 4-1 when he comes off the bench — Smoove has also averaged 15.0 points per game, 5.2 rebounds per game and shooting 52.8 percent from the field.

He averaged 5.3 PPG, 4.5 RPG, shot 29 percent FG and the Rockets were 1-3 when he was a starter.

So the numbers don’t lie — he needs to come off the bench either indefinitely or until he feels comfortable with the Rockets’ system.

I’m glad that he finally has found his niche with his team as the goal for this team is ultimately an NBA championship but definitely improve off their early first-round playoff exit last season.

He will provide invaluable tangibles during the postseason and his chance to shine will be there.

Anyway, enough about Smoove.

This past week, the Rockets faced the Miami Heat, Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers and New York Knicks to come out with a 4-1 record.

Let’s take a look at how they did:

Jan 3, 2015; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Rockets center

Dwight Howard

(12) attempts to drive the ball around Miami Heat center

Hassan Whiteside

(21) during the second quarter at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Rockets 115, Heat 79: The Rockets feasted on a beleaguered Heat team that and had only three out of their last 10 games. This was the first game in four straight games that Smoove was sent to the bench. It just wasn’t working with him being the starter and the obvious solution was to insert D-Mo back into the lineup. It paid huge dividends — he scored nine points out of the gate and played hard-nosed defense to demonstrate that he belongs in the starting lineup. With the Heat’s lack of inside presence, the Rockets started to dump the ball into Dwight Howard‘s hands to which the Heat never found an answer for. They tried Chris Bosh, Chris Andersen even Hassan Whiteside but to no avail. He eventually went to score 19 points along with eight rebounds in the first half including 15 of those points in the 2nd quarter alone. This was one of Corey Brewer‘s best games of the season, always seeming to be there to make a good play and he did hit a three to bust the game wide-open — it allowed the Rockets to lead the Heat 61-49 at the half. The Rockets scored 38 points in the 2nd, their most in a quarter this season. After the Heat went ice-cold to start out the 2nd half, the Rockets went on a 9-0 run to push their lead up to 24 points, it got worse as Harden, Brewer and Jason Terry teamed up to shoot the three-ball to a 34-point lead. By the 4th quarter, the Heat had waved the surrender flag and our reserves were in getting some valuable tune-up minutes. Harden led all scorers with 28 points, Howard had 23/13, Smoove had 12/7 and Brewer had 11 points including shooting 3-for-7 behind-the-arc. This was the first sweep of the Heat in six seasons. Nice job.

Jan 5, 2015; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Bulls guard

Derrick Rose

(1) drives around Houston Rockets forward

Donatas Motiejunas

(20) during the game at United Center. The Chicago Bulls beat the Houston Rockets 114-105. Mandatory Credit: Caylor Arnold-USA TODAY Sports

Bulls 114, Rockets 105: This game had gone exactly how I expected — the Rockets would do battle, fight hard but would lose narrowly. The Bulls have been flourishing since Derrick Rose is getting back to himself once again. He is one of the most talented guards in the league and it’s a joy watching him do work. Except when he’s playing the Rockets — I hope he has a bad game against us. That certainly wasn’t the case — he had 19 points, nine assists, three boards and two steals. This was also Beverley’s homecoming as he is a Chi-Town native — he did not disappoint either, he had 14 points, six dimes, six rebounds and two blocks in 31 minutes of action. The Rockets hung tough throughout the game but it was ultimately their inability to get to the free-throw line that did them in. They only had an incredibly-low five measly attempts from the charity stripe compared to the Bulls’ 30. Five FT attempts? That may be what we’d expect in stretch during the game but in a game? Yes, it happened and the Bulls converted on 27 of their 30 attempts. That’s the difference. For the record, Harden was 3-for-3, while Howard and Terry were 0-for-1. The Bulls were hot from the three-point line within the last few minutes of regulation — Jimmy Butler, Nikola Mirotic and Rose all contributed to them overtaking the Rockets not only from there but at the free-throw line down the stretch toward the end of the game. Harden had 20 points but he had to work hard to earn every bit of those as the Bulls defensive plan was to shut him down. He shot 7-for-22 from the field. D-Mo had 16/6 in this effort and was a +5 in the lineup, the only Rockets player in the “+” category. D12 had 12 points and 14 rebounds but his four turnovers cost his effectiveness big-time. All in all, Tom Thibodeau took away what the Rockets did best, utilizing Harden down the stretch and getting to the free throw line. That’s what ultimately did them in despite the team earning 62 points in the paint. It was a tough loss but it was certainly a winnable game.

Jan 7, 2015; Cleveland, OH, USA; Houston Rockets center Dwight Howard (12) grabs a rebound against Cleveland Cavaliers forward

Kevin Love

(0) and forward

Tristan Thompson

(13) during the second quarter at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: Ron Schwane-USA TODAY Sports

Rockets 105, Cavaliers 93: The Rockets had the opportunity to face the LeBron-less Cavs with a new-look as they cruised to the midpoint of their road trip. The Cavs acquired guards J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert in a three-team trade the day before and they seemed poised to reload for big push to takeover the East when LeBron James comes back from injury. It was quite a tussle for these two teams as the Cavs continued to lead up until the end of the half 49-48. Kyrie Irving was having the game of his life with him already scoring 23 points in the 1st half! The third quarter was tight and Howard used the 4th quarter as his own personal dunk fest as he helped the Rockets mount a 8-0 run with Brewer hitting pivotal threes on back-to-back possessions including an interesting sequence for his first of the two. Smoove had a bone-crunching block on Irving, causing Terry to snag the board out to Brewer for the score. It was like clockwork! The Cavs simply could not keep up and could not find an answer for Howard. They also limited Irving to 15 points in the 2nd half, giving him 38 points on the night. Harden struggled from the field as teams have started to focus their assets on him alone. He had 21 points but shot 6-for-18 from the field but was still a perfect 7-for-7 from the line. D12 owned the paint with 19 boards and 17 points. The bench mob in Smith and Brew had 16 points, five rebounds, two blocks and 12 points, three assists and two steals respectively.

Jan 8, 2015; New York, NY, USA; Houston Rockets guard

James Harden

(13) works the ball around New York Knicks guard

Pablo Prigioni

(9) during the first quarter at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports

Rockets 120, Knicks 96: The Knicks have been just plain awful and when you think it couldn’t get any worse for them — they hit a new low when they lost to the Rockets. They had lost 14 in-a-row, their longest losing streak in franchise history. The Knicks were simply no match for the Rockets and this game was over by the 2nd half when they had led by as much as 20 points. By the fourth quarter, the starters were out and the bench was in. The highlight to this game was a laughable “believe in who you are” timeout speech that Derek Fisher gave. No, they don’t need to believe in who they are because that’s how they got to where they were in the first place. Ha! But all’s well ends well and the Rockets ended on top. Harden had 25 points, nine assists and Ariza was “Mr. Threeza” has he had 18 points while shooting 6-for-10 FG and 4-for-6 from behind-the-arc. D12 had 13/10 but it’s quite puzzling that he wasn’t able to get more than 10 against the Knicks. Howard didn’t play the whole 4th so that’s understandable as well. The supporting cast of D-Mo, Terry and Brew all provided healthy contributions to the win as well.

Houston Rockets Rewind: Week 11: 01/03/2015 – 01/10/2015

By Brian K. Patterson | Jan 10, 2015