MLK Day Win: Houston Rockets Fight Off Indiana Pacers 110-98
By Travis Oquin
In celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day it was an afternoon matinee with a 4:30 p.m. CST tip for the Houston Rockets against the Indiana Pacers. The Pacers came into town for their only visit of the 2014-15 season, with a record of 15-27, stumbling through the season without their primary star Paul George.
Coach Kevin McHale hinted at lineup changes in the pre-game interviews after the debacle of a game and effort against the Warriors on Saturday night, but the starters remained the same with Patrick Beverley, James Harden, Trevor Ariza, Donatas Motiejunas and Dwight Howard.
The Rockets were trying to get off to a strong start and remove the taste in their mouths from the Golden State Warriors game — they came out guns blazing with three straight three-pointers with two from Beverley and one from Ariza. After an Ariza steal and a fast-break dunk, coach Frank Vogel had seen enough and had to call a quick timeout, with the Rockets being up 11-2.
The Rockets did not take their foot off the gas and after some Howard rebounds starting some fast break buckets from Harden, D-Mo, Howard the Rockets forced a second, quick timeout with them going up 17-4.
Jan 19, 2015; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Rockets center
Dwight Howard(12) speaks to the crowd in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King day prior to the game against the Indiana Pacers at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Thomas B. Shea-USA TODAY Sports
Howard stayed active on the boards and quickly snagged seven rebounds which started the break and led to more opportunities. Howard also added seven early points after a couple free throws. It’s also important to note that Howard has been shooting well as of late — the Rockets led 25-15 at the 3:55 mark.
Howard finished the quarter as the leading scorer with nine points and eight rebounds. Beverley added six and Rockets led 29-21 at the end of one.
The Rockets went primarily with the 2nd unit to start the 2nd quarter with Jason Terry, Corey Brewer, Kostas Papanikolaou and Josh Smith with D-Mo in the middle.
After missing a couple three-pointers at the end of the first and struggling lately from distance after a hot Rockets career start from behind the arc, Corey Brewer started slashing and taking the ball to the hole and with a couple finishes at the rim and the Rockets first six points in the quarter. Rockets had their largest lead thus far, up 35-25 with 9:38 to go.
After that the Rockets and Pacers traded buckets and the lead hovered around 10 points for the next four minutes until the turnovers started to pile up from careless passes by Harden and Beverley, following a Donald Sloan four-point play off of a Beverley foul and a three-pointer the Rockets lead had evaporated and the current score was 41-40.
Kevin McHale, tired of the turnovers, yanked Patrick Beverley and inserted Jason Terry. After Jet knocked down a three at the 2:46 mark, the Rockets had pushed the lead back out to 48-40. Terry followed that up on a possession later with a driving bucket for his seventh point of the game.
When James Harden hit a three-pointer the Rockets had a new game high leading 53-40.
At halftime, the Rockets lead 55-45. Harden led the Rockets with 12 points in the first half matching his game total from the Warriors game. Howard was cleaning up the glass with nine points and 12 rebounds in the first half. Brewer and Terry were providing some punch off the bench with eight and seven points respectively. The Rockets shot 53 percent in the first half but were up to what has plagued them in the last month — turnovers — and they already had 12.
Harden and Howard got the Rockets going in the 3rd quarter, Harden with a quick three-pointer followed a dunk and a few free throws. When Harden hit three free throws off a Rodney Stuckey foul, the Rockets led 67-56.
Jan 19, 2015; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Rockets guard
James Harden(13) dribbles the ball as Indiana Pacers guard
Rodney Stuckey(2) defends in the first half at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Thomas B. Shea-USA TODAY Sports
Harden continued his hot streak in the 3rd quarter, clearly determined to get back on track with a follow-up layup, and three consecutive three-pointers within a minute of game play, the last of which came at the 3:14 mark, the Rockets led 81-60 and were pulling away. Harden had 29 points.
The Rockets bench then got into the act with a three-pointer from Brewer and a driving basket from Josh Smith, stretched the Rockets lead out to a game-high 24-point lead. The Pacers desperately tried to keep up but the Rockets finished the quarter leading 89-68. Harden having dumped in 18 points in the quarter, already had 30 points on the night.
However, the Pacers did not quit and after an 11-4 run to start the 4th quarter behind five C.J. Miles points the Pacers cut the lead to 14, Rockets up 93-79. Harden who might have sat the rest of the game without that run, re-entered the game to keep it from getting out of hand.
Sticking with a theme from earlier in the contest, of a short leash, after two bad turnovers Papanikolaou was yanked back out of the game as the Pacers cut the lead to 12, 97-85.
When Solomon Hill buried a 3 pointer from the short corner the lead was down to nine. The Pacers kept the pressure on and at the 2:31 mark, Donald Sloan added a free throw to cut the lead to eight.
But that was as close as they would get at the end of this game after Harden continued to pour it on and hit a step-back jumper, a couple of free throws and a step-back three. The Rockets were back to a lead of 12 and Harden was at a season-high 45 points. The Rockets eventually won the game 110-98.
Harden tied his career high with 45 and set his career high for points in a half with 33 in the 2nd half. Howard also had a huge game with 17 rebounds and 14 points. Brewer led the scoring off the bench with 13.
The Rockets shot well for the game at 51.4 percent and 12-for-31 on 3-pointers. The lone stat and what allowed the Pacers to stay in the game was 19 turnovers by the Rockets.
Coach McHale tried to show the team that he’s not putting up with that sloppy play, with some quick hooks getting a couple guys out of the game but Harden added five of them himself. That cannot happen against good teams and expect to win.
When the Rockets are rolling they can dismantle any team in the league but to go deep into the playoffs they must reduce the turnovers and play more consistently than they have in the past month.
There is still plenty of time to find that consistency as we are at the half-way mark for the season and the Rockets now stand at 29-13. This puts them — despite some inconsistent play lately — on track to tie the franchise all-time win total of 58 wins in 1993-94, which happened to be the year of the first championship.
The Rockets will seek to keep the win streak going with a rematch against the Warriors in Oakland on Wednesday night in their last meeting of the season against the Warriors.
Stick with us here at House of Houston for all your Rockets coverage.