Back on track
With Nene, Paul and Green back, blowouts relay positive direction
Less than a week had passed since the Rockets returned from Washington and an empty road trip. Just a few days had gone by since they were woefully short-handed and overwhelmed by the Mavericks.
Yet, everything seemed to have changed.
More than getting players back from injuries on consecutive nights — with Chris Paul and Gerald Green returning Friday and Nene making his season debut Saturday — the Rockets felt like themselves again. They followed their blowout of the Spurs with a 121-105 run past the Bulls in which their greatest difficulty seemed to be believing the young, rebuilding and injury-diminished Bulls could challenge them.
That was a far cry from a week earlier when they were losing games to struggling Eastern Conference teams in Cleveland and Washington and players to injuries.
“In the locker room, on the court, the energy is different,” center Clint Capela said. “Our defense is different. Our confidence is different. So this is way better.”
The Rockets had a few stretches with the familiar problems Saturday, giving up second shots and points off turnovers.
But they turned that around, too. After leading by as much as 19 in the first quarter and threatening to blow the game open often along the way, they finally delivered their expected rout with a burst to begin the fourth quarter.
James Harden and Capela continued their recent roll, with Harden scoring 30 points on 9-of-16 shooting and Capela getting 18 points with 15 rebounds. Paul, who returned from his strained hamstring Friday, played the second half of the back-to-back with no apparent difficulties, matching his season high of 13 assists.
The Rockets even had their retooled bench — with Danuel House Jr. replacing Gary Clark as the backup power forward and Nene playing 12 solid minutes in his season debut — going far beyond its struggles in the fourgame losing streak.
Green and Eric Gordon combined for 25 points, far more than Rockets reserves were providing when they averaged 12 points on the three-game road trip.
With that, the starters who had been carrying the load seemed under far less pressure. The Rockets had seven players in double figures for the first time since the season’s third game.
They made 50 percent of their shots, including 39 percent of their 3-pointers to shoot at least 50 percent in six of 10 games after making at least half their shots just once in the first 12 games of the season.
“I think it’s just having a full roster,” said Harden, who has averaged 35.3 points in his past eight games, scoring at least 30 in six of them. “Obviously, having Chris and Gerald and Nene back for these last few games, you have guys on the bench who have your back and come in and can contribute, and give you that boost that’s needed.
“Everyone is much more efficient when we’re together and have a full roster, as you can see these last few games.”
The Rockets did not fully put the win away until the fourth quarter, after the Bulls’ Zach LaVine sat after a 5-of-5 third quarter in which he scored 11 of his 29 points.
The Rockets took a 12-point lead into the fourth quarter and needed less than four minutes to rush the lead to 20.
After stumbling for stretches with the same old issues, the Rockets did not allow a point off a turnover and did not give up an offensive rebound in the fourth quarter, allowing them to blow the game open.
With that, a week in which the Rockets had been so frustrated, so damaged, ended with consecutive blowouts and good feelings about what will come next.
“I’m always concerned,” coach Mike D’Antoni said. “I was concerned. I’m concerned right now. That’s how the NBA is. You can’t ever think, “OK, now it’s all cured.’ We got to stay on top of it.”
The Rockets had demonstrated how quickly things can change.
Still, at least for now, the Rockets could celebrate a much-needed change in direction.
“It’s definitely getting normal,” Gordon said. “Guys have been in and out all year. We always play well when everybody’s healthy. We know that.
“Now, we just have to climb up in the rankings. We weren’t playing well at all. You can see, we’re trending in the right way.”