Enough 3-pointers find net to make for satisfying win
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Rockets forward Luc Mbah a Moute lost the ball off his foot, but no one said anything about the turnover. James Harden had a different instruction to give, saying the one thing that did not seem to be needed to be said.
Harden told his new teammate to shoot the 3.
If there was one thing the Rockets were happy to do Friday, it was to shoot from the 3-point line, putting up shots from deep with regularity incredible even by their record-setting standards.
Mbah a Moute obliged, hitting his corner 3 moments later and the Rockets kept firing away until they had launched 57 3-pointers on their way past the Hornets 109-93 on Friday in by far their most 3-for-all styled game of the season.
But Mbah a Moute imagined he will hear not about the shots taken from far and wide, but about the times the Rockets did not fire away.
“I think about how many I passed, probably three or four,” Mbah a Moute said. “I’m sure I’m going to hear about it on the film.
“That’s how we play. That’s our philosophy. It works. We have the personnel for it. When we’re making shots, and playing the way we usually play, it’s hard to beat.”
Flirting with record
The Rockets made and attempted more 3-pointers than any Hornets opponent has, coming within four attempts of their NBA record for 3s taken and within three of the Cavaliers’ record for made 3s. Of the 14 games in NBA history in which a team has attempted 50 3-pointers, 11 are by the Rockets since the start of last season.
“We should have taken 60,” coach Mike D’Antoni said. “We’re going to take them. If that’s what’s available and it’s a good shot, everybody’s got the green light. When they pass them up and they’re open, guys get mad at each other. We just think it’s a good shot.”
With the Hornets defending the paint, the Rockets took 12 more 3-pointers than they had in any game this season, and their 38.6 percent 3-point shooting was their best in the six games.
When they misfired, their defense kept them in front. They held the Hornets to 37.5 percent shooting, with Ryan Anderson and P.J. Tucker taking turns on Dwight Howard with Clint Capela and Tarik Black limited by foul trouble, and Mbah a Moute holding Kemba Walker to 8 of 22 shooting and just three fourthquarter points.
But the Rockets answered the Hornets’ most challenging move at the rim. With Charlotte within four late in the third quarter, Eric Gordon drove to a two-handed stuff and the Rockets reacted as if they struck oil. The Rockets got five of their next six buckets at the rim, rebuilding their double-digit lead.
With the Charlotte defense forced to finally come out to the 3-point line and beyond, the Rockets made 15 of 21 shots in the paint, nearly matching the 34 paint points the Hornets scored on 20 more attempts.
“A team is not going to stop us all game,” said Gordon, who had 26 points, making six 3-pointers (more than in the first three games of the season combined.) “The reason we took a lot of 3s tonight, they pack the paint. As long as we hit a couple of them, it really opens up the whole game. That’s why the paint will be open. As soon as we hit a couple 3s that deep, it will open up for us.”
Season first for Harden
Once the Rockets rebuilt the cushion, they went back to firing away from deep, seeming as comfortable offensively as they have all season. Harden completed his first triple-double of the season, scoring 27 points with 11 assists and 10 rebounds. Anderson had his top scoring game of the season, scoring 21 points on 6 of 15 shooting from deep.
The only surprise, he said, came when he looked at the stat sheet to find the Rockets had attempted 57 shots from beyond the 3-point line as he thought not of how many they took, but of the ones they did not.
“We passed up some looks,” Anderson said. “I feel like we could have got about 10 more up. That’s the way we play. When we play with that kind of fluidity, when we get those shots, it just feels natural.”