Houston Rockets Bench Holds Off Dallas Mavericks 99-94

The Rockets faced Chandler Parsons and the Dallas Mavericks Wednesday night at Toyota Center.  All of Parsons numbers are down from last year, scoring is down to 15.5 PPG and rebounds/assists are down as well.

The last time I checked, Monta Ellis, Dirk Nowitzki and Rajon Rondo are all better players than Parsons making him the 4^th best player when he used to be the 3^rd on the Rockets.  Parsons did say he went to Dallas to have an opportunity to be a bigger star right?  Just checking.

The Rockets playing without Dwight Howard for the second game in a row, started off ice cold and the Mavericks raced out to a 7-0 lead and 12-5 before Kevin McHale had seen enough of the lazy defense and got a time-out.

However, the sloppy play on offense continued further through into the first quarter, with James Harden and Donatas Motiejunas the only players that had much going on the offensive end.  But the Mavericks were not getting much done on the offensive end either.

Jan 28, 2015; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Rockets forward

(6) attempts a free throw during the second quarter against the Dallas Mavericks at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Terrence Jones made his return to action at the 4:49 mark and played four minutes, but was completely gassed after three minutes and the Rockets nearly had to call a time-out to get him out of the game.  Good to see Jones back, but clearly he has a long way to go to get his basketball legs back under him.

When Harden hit a driving layup followed on the next possession by a Josh Smith three-pointer the Rockets had cut the lead to four as the Mavericks led 23-19 at the 2:29 mark.

The Rockets closed out the quarter with a three from Corey Brewer, a driving layup from Smith and trailed by only one, 24-25 at the end of the quarter.  Harden led Rockets’ scorers with seven points, D-Mo and Smith added five.  Ellis led Dallas with 10.

To start the 2^nd quarter, the Mavericks started off quite frosty and sloppy.  The Rockets started to click with D-Mo, Brewer and Smith doing most of the damage.  Josh Smith hit his second 3-pointer of the game as he seems to be getting comfortable and understanding when and where the Rockets are approve of him taking that shot.

When Brewer pulled up his signature mid-range jumper with 5:50 to go the Rockets led 39-36.

Jones, having now caught his breath, re-entered the game with 5:22 to go in the 2^nd.  Jones looked much better in his second stretch hitting an open, slow release three-pointer and a running bank shot for his first five points of the game since early November.

Parsons, apparently determined to quiet the boos that rained down every time he touched the ball, he hit his third three-pointer to give him 13 points, and the game was tied at 47.   The teams then traded buckets with Jones up to eight points.

Jan 28, 2015; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Rockets forward Josh Smith (5) shoots the ball during the second quarter against the Dallas Mavericks at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Smith closed out the quarter with a dunk and his third, yes that’s right, his third three-pointer of the night to send the Rockets to halftime with a 54-53 lead.

Smith led the Rockets in scoring at the half with 13, Harden had 11 and Brewer with nine.  The Rockets shot 44 percent from three-point range in the first half, hitting 7-of-16.  Ellis led the Mavs with 17 at the half as the Rockets continued to try to figure out how to stop him.

Trevor Ariza got the Rockets going in the 2^nd half with a three, his first bucket of the game.  The teams traded baskets but Ariza stayed hot. He hit a three, a pull-up jumper and a dunk to quickly get to 10 points and the Rockets led 69-64.

However, the Rockets could not stop Ellis who kept sticking jumper after jumper. Ellis would eventually get 14 in the 3^rd and all the way to 31 points for the game at that point.

After a couple of Harden layups, someone woke up Nowitzki and after a four-point stretch, the Mavericks cut their deficit  to two points, a 78-76 Rockets lead.

Rockets led at the end of the third 81-78.

Once again, the Rockets started off with a three-pointer as Brewer scored his 12^th point of the game.

The Rockets held onto that six point lead to the 9:00 mark with the score being 86-80.

The game then got fairly uncoordinated with turnovers and missed shots galore but Parsons kept the Mavs close with his three-pointer cutting the Rockets lead to three with the score being 88-85 with seven minutes to go.

The asynchronous play continued and over the course of four minutes only six points had been scored.  Patrick Beverley hit a driving, spinning layup to give the Rockets a 92-87 lead.  However, right after that Smith hit his 4^th three-pointer of the game followed by Parsons doing the same.

Smith stepped up again near the end with another bucket and a huge block on Tyson Chandler, his second blocked shot of the game.

The Rockets led 97-94 when Harden was called for a Flagrant Level I foul off Chandler on a foul where he clearly got a piece of the ball.  However, Chandler could not convert the free throws.

Jan 28, 2015; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Rockets guard

(13) drives to the basket during the first quarter as Dallas Mavericks guard

(9) defends at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

After the missed free throws, the Rockets got a blocked shot from Jones and a turnover by Devin Harris forced by Brewer. The Mavericks fouled Harden on the in-bounds and Harden hit two free throws to take us to the final score, Rockets winning the game 99-94.

The Rockets now lead the Mavericks in the standings by 2 ½ games and hold a 2-0 advantage over the Mavericks on the season.

The Mavericks ended up with only 41 points in the 2^nd half, but got 33 from Ellis and 21 from Parsons in one of his best games in some time.  Rondo played great defense on Harden but did not score and Nowitzki, simply doesn’t look like the same player anymore.

On the Rockets side, they got a huge game from Smith who finished with 18 points off the bench and was the leading scorer.  Smith also added six rebounds and three blocked shots.  This game was the best Smith has had with the Rockets since his debut against the Memphis Grizzlies.

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Jones, although still trying to get into shape, managed 10 points, five rebounds and two blocked shots in 21 minutes but came up huge late in the game on defense and can really add to this team’s depth.

Somewhat unusual as of late, the Rockets got a very balanced scoring attack with 17 from Harden, 16 from D-Mo, 13 for Ariza and 14 from Brewer to go along with Smith and Jones.

The Rockets three-point shooting continued throughout the game as they shot 14-for-35 which was good for 40 percent from behind-the-arc.

Next up?  The Rockets hit the road for two games that should be wins — they’ll be facing the Boston Celtics Friday and then the Detroit Pistons this Saturday.

Stick with us here at House of Houston for all your Rockets coverage!