Rockets hope to take ‘Dunk City’ on the road as series shifts to Dallas
Offense operating at a high level turns Game 2 into dunkathon
The first dunk was routine, offering no clue of what was to come. Jason Terry made a steal. James Harden got ahead of the pack. When Harden threw down his lefthanded punch, a few of the rookies on the Rockets’ bench got up to mark the occasion without the sort of celebrations that would come later.
Even the second dunk, impressive as it was when Josh Smith blew by Dirk Nowitzki as the Mavericks stumbled through just a hint of a screen, was not the sort of play that would take over a game. By the Rockets’ third dunk of the night, a Trevor Ariza breakaway, rookies Nick Johnson and Clint Capela stood and applauded as if about to head to the next earlyround hole of a golf tournament.
Then Capela finished with a jam on a pick-and-roll. He lobbed a remarkably easy pass to Terrence Jones, who jammed the ball home almost carefully, as if adding garbage to an
already full trash can in a way that would keep anything from falling out.
The Rockets were still just warming up Tuesday. With each assault on the Mavericks’ creaky defense and eventually the Toyota Center rims, a pattern would emerge.
“We just saw something,” Smith said. “A little wrinkle in their defense, and we just tried to take advantage of it.”
Soon, that little something would be exposed by dunk after dunk, with Smith and Dwight Howard pounding the rims with increasing frequency and ferocity in the fourth quarter until the Rockets had a 2-0 series lead and Clutch City had for a night become Dunk City.
The Rockets’ 14 dunks in Tuesday’s 111-99 victory were more than any team had totaled in a playoff game since the Lakers of Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant in 2001. They came from six players, all but one off assists, all but two in halfcourt execution.
“That’s the way we envision it, especially when we’re getting lob dunks to Dwight all fourth quarter,” Corey Brewer said. “When we play like that, I don’t think anybody can beat us.”
Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said the Rockets “jumped over us,” but it was about more than leaping ability. Rockets coach Kevin McHale said Howard, Smith and Capela typically play above the rim, but the Rockets made the plays before it was time to go airborne.
“We did it with James on the bench,” Brewer said. “Once we put James back in the equation, we’re going to be tough to beat.”
Harden pitches in
The fourth-quarter roll began with Harden on the bench, but it ended with his initiating the offense on the pick-and-roll. On one, he slipped a pass to Smith between Monta Ellis and Nowitzki. Smith sent a lob to Howard for a particularly hard twohanded slam. On the next, after Harden passed to Smith, Tyson Chandler stayed back on Howard, and Smith capped his night with a violent spike of a dunk.
Since the Rockets acquired Smith in December, they have used him as a playmaker in the middle of the lane when Harden is double-teamed with the ball, especially on screens. Rarely has it worked so smoothly.
“We’ve been running everything with great speed,” Smith said. “We’ve got to keep doing that, and we have to keep playing together and keep setting screens. We’re setting screens and getting guys open. It’s making their bigs make a decision.”
The Mavericks adjusted their defense to keep perimeter players on the Rockets’ shooters while still sending a second defender to Harden. That left Chandler alone in the lane on Smith and Howard, forced to choose between goblets of poison.
“Tyson Chandler is a shot blocker, and his natural reaction is to come over and help when guys are (moving) downhill like that,” Jones said. “Our bigs have been making those plays to other bigs, and that helps us.”
It especially suits Smith and Howard. Even when they were not running the Rockets’ offense, as when Smith grabbed an offensive rebound and saw Howard cutting to the rim, they connected with lob passes. But generally, the Rockets have used the double-teams on Harden to play four-on-three. In the fourth quarter of Game 1, they passed to open teammates at the 3-point line. In the fourth quarter of Game 2, they passed to the airspace above the rim.
A matter of execution
“We’ve used Josh quite a bit — and T.J. — in roll spots,” McHale said. “T.J. had six assists in the first game. They put two on the ball, we try to hit our roll guy. He knows where his outlets are. Then it’s just a matter of reading the defense. Do they come to the big off of the corner? Do they not come to the big off of the corner? Our guys did a nice job of finding the open guy.
“Josh is a really good passer, but really, it’s not that rare of a skill. If you get the ball and take one dribble, if no one comes, you dunk it. If someone comes, you throw it to the guy he left. He’s got great vision, but the actual concept is pretty simple. The way our spacing is, one of two guys can pick you up, a big or a small. You have to look and see if the guy is 7-foot or 6-foot. If he’s 6-foot, you know where to throw it. If he’s 7-foot, you know where to throw it.”
If the Rockets can do that, then the fun starts. No team objects to layups, and the Rockets were second in the NBA in points in the paint this season while taking few midrange jumpers. The Rockets especially appreciate 3-pointers, and no team has ever taken and made as many in a season as the Rockets. But dunks get the bench jumping and the crowd roaring. They were the ultimate demonstration of a night the offense was working perfectly.
“That gave us all the energy,” Harden said. “Those dunks in the fourth quarter took us over and won that game for us.”