Houston Rockets Redux: Week 16: 02/08/2015

The Houston Rockets had one of their most challenging weeks as of late that they undertook this week.

The had to do this all without Dwight Howard, who will be out likely a little over a month at least to nurse the edema in his right knee.

The team has gone 14-7 without him.

The deck of cards was stacked up against them.

The Rockets faced the Portland Trail Blazers at home Sunday, then traveled up to the Valley of the Sun Tuesday to face the Phoenix Suns and then took on the Los Angeles Clippers on a back-to-back Wednesday.

The Rockets unfortunately fared with a 1-2 record this week against three opponents that are all in the playoff race in the Western Conference.

This week played out somewhat to how I expected, although I really thought the Rockets would be able to beat the Blazers.

But no avail, they couldn’t stop the power of LaMarcus Aldridge and the dynamic play of Damian Lillard.

Any way, this week went into the books quickly as it meandered its way to the All-Star break of approximately a little over a week.

There were some valiant efforts but then there were some blunders that we witnessed as well.

But you win some, you lose some but ultimately you live to fight another day and that’s what the Rockets will do.

Let’s take a look at how they did:

Feb 8, 2015; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Rockets guard

James Harden

(13) attempts to drive the ball around Portland Trail Blazers guard

Will Barton

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

Blazers 109, Rockets 98: This was a game that offered quite a bit in terms of competitiveness with each team going at it until close to the end of the 1st half where the Blazers took a 51-40 lead off a 12-3 run at a point where the Rockets went extremely cold. At one point, James Harden was the only semblance of an offense for the team because nobody else seemed to be effective in helping him do his thing. The Blazers were in control until the midpoint of the 3rd quarter when the Rockets finally got it together and went on a 10-2 run to close within seven with the score being 75-68. The defense continued to tighten as Josh Smith led the way including a badly-needed three-pointer that tied the game at 79-all just before the end of the quarter. The Rockets found themselves back in the game at the end of the third, trailing by one with the score being 81-80. They outscored the Blazers 32-20 in that quarter, out-rebounding them 13-3. The Rockets hung in there in the 4th — they did slip a bit and trailed by as much as nine down the stretch but they fought back. The closed within four with 1:50 left off a Harden three and Donatas Motiejunas dunk making the score 100-96. But for final two minutes or so, the Rockets scored only two points and those were by, of course, from Harden. The Beard ended up finishing with 45 points, nine rebounds and eight dimes while J-Smoove had 16 points, five rebounds and four assists in 28 minutes of action. It wasn’t the ending the Rockets had hoped because it wasn’t for Harden, this game would’ve been out-of-reach and it would’ve been ugly.

Feb 10, 2015; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Houston Rockets guard

James Harden

(13) points to the sky against the Phoenix Suns at US Airways Center. The Rockets won 127-118. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Rockets 127, Suns 118: The Rockets pounced out early in this match up, taking a quick 10-3 lead with D-Mo leading the way with six of those 10 points coupled with a svelte turnaround jumper that he had with 10:17 left in the first. The Rockets went on to score 41 points in the 1st quarter leading the Suns by 18 with the score being 41-23 at the end. The Rockets were in charge until late in the 1st half when the Suns chipped away at their deficit and closed within three after a late 6-0 run. But J-Smoove, Corey Brewer and Trevor Ariza and the Beard worked together to put the team back up 70-61 at the half. At the start of the 3rd quarter, Eric Bledsoe went out of his mind to lead a 14-0 run allowing the Suns to take a 81-73 lead near the midpoint of the period. We had a brief scare with 4:36 left when Harden took a hard shot to the elbow causing him to tumble to the floor grimacing in pain. Brewer checked in for him immediately and the Rockets were able to get back into the game despite the Beard being out with the Rockets trailing by one at the end of the third, 89-88. The Rockets were outscored 28-18 but still found a way to still stay in the game. Harden checked back in at the start of the 4th quarter and his first play was a four-pointer off a Marcus Morris foul from behind-the-arc. This was the start of something great — he owned that quarter as we saw him faking, euro-stepping, doing the little things to help his team win! He had 17 out of his 40 total points to will the Rockets to beat the Suns 127-118 in a shootout all the way to the end. He also had 12 rebounds and nine assists to add to that stat line as well. That game was definitely a feel-good win!

Feb 11, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Houston Rockets forward

Josh Smith

(back) and Los Angeles Clippers forward

Glen Davis

(front) battle for the ball during the second quarter at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports

Clippers 110, Rockets 95: This game offered some promise with the Rockets facing a Clippers team without forward Blake Griffin, who will be out for awhile tending to a staph infection. The Rockets kept it close throughout the first half not letting the Clips go up more than seven points and they did lead at the end of the 1st half 56-54. Smith and Brewer — two of the Headband of Brothers — worked together by playing hard-nosed defense and hitting key buckets to keep the Rockets on the straight and narrow trailing by one — 80-79 — at the end of the third. Jamal Crawford helped the Clippers pull away in the 4th after he kept hitting shot-after-shot and finger-rolling his way into the lane to keep his team on top. The Rockets never recovered as the game tremendously slowed down with the Clippers attempting 21 free throws making 15 of them. We tried the “Hack-A-DJ” strategy with DeAndre Jordan but it didn’t work. Jordan got the best of the Rockets putting up 20 points, 24 rebounds including 12-for-26 from the free throw line. The Clippers defensive strategy was to take Harden out of the equation and it worked. He had only nine points off 3-for-12 FG shooting. Brewer led all Rockets scorers with 22 points and J-Smoove had the most complete game with 21 points, 13 rebounds, and two blocks. This was another dud against the Clippers but I’m confident we’ll bounce back depending if the Rockets go out and get some help in the paint before the trade deadline. Enes Kanter anyone?

Houston Rockets Redux: Week 16: 02/08/2015 – 02/14/2015

By Brian K. Patterson | Feb 14, 2015