Diverse offense produces rare rout
When Atlanta put pressure on Harden, paint game thrived
ATLANTA — Needing to change the course of a game rapidly getting out of hand, the Atlanta Hawks shifted to a defense that invited the Rockets to put up more 3-point shots. They might as well had been asking paradegoers in Houston on Friday to cheer, frat boys to get a little bit louder now or President Donald Trump to tweet.
The Rockets obliged and for a few minutes, they missed, the Hawks made a run and the strategy seemed to have a long-shot chance, which was better than the chance the Hawks had before changing defenses.
Then the Rockets saw another way, attacked and blew out the Hawks as thoroughly as they were before they briefly stalled, taking the lead to 30 before cruising 119-104 on Friday night at Philips Arena.
The win sent the Rockets home after playing seven of 10 games to open the season on the road with a 6-1 road record.
But more than that, it coupled with the romp in New York on Wednesday to offer a pair of giant steps past the issues at home before they left.
On Friday, that meant seeing the Hawks switch to a trap on James Harden and burning
it with drives to the rim, sprinkled in with just enough 3-pointers that the Rockets did not have to show IDs.
“You see different defenses and you try to find ways to be aggressive and attack them,” said Harden, who had 29 points and 11 assists before sitting out the fourth quarter. “They gave us a little trap. They played back a little bit. Find the best way to get a good shot every time.”
Defense targets Harden
Before the Hawks sent the extra defenders to stop Harden, he was dominating, scoring 21 points in the first half and starting the second half with his fifth 3-pointer in nine attempts.
“Just being aggressive, making the right play and doing whatever it takes whether it’s scoring, passing or getting to the basket and making the right decision,” Harden said. “Just trying to have that attack mode, being aggressive and making the right play.”
That led the Hawks’ Mike Budenholzer to change his defense and at first, with the Hawks trapping the ball out of Harden’s hands and dropping their other three defenders into the lane, it worked.
In the first eight minutes of the second half, the Rockets launched 13 3-pointers, making just two. The Hawks reduced a 21-point lead to 13.
But the Rockets did not just shoot from beyond the arc. Eric Gordon finished a pair of drives, one with a hard spike of a slam. Nene scored twice inside. Luc Mbah a Moute finished on a drive.
While taking their typical 47 3-pointers, making 16 following a 1 of 10 fourth quarter largely with the bench cleared, the Rockets also scored 50 points in the paint, matching their most since the season-opening win over the Warriors.
“They made a good run,” Gordon said. “They were outworking us for a short period of time. We started playing together. We moved the ball, played faster and played really good defense.
“We haven’t been shooting the 3-ball that great all year. Once we start shooting the 3-ball, we’re always going to be an attack team where we’re attacking the basket, but when we start making 3s, we’re going to be really hard to stop.”
They were more than the undermanned Hawks (1-8) could stop.
But the Rockets viewed the road trip to New York and Atlanta as a two-game opportunity to work out their kinks. They found their 3-point touch with the starters going 14-of-34. And they picked up their pace, scoring more fast-break points in the first half (17) than they had in any game this season and finishing with 28.
Keep up the pace
Mostly, they took more 3s than they average per game but did not rely on them.
“We don’t want to hold the ball,” coach Mike D’Antoni said. “We got to make quick decisions. Once we start attacking, kicking, attacking, kicking, hitting 3s, whatever, it opens everything up. That’s how we want to play, without calling plays. The pace was pretty good tonight. We got up and down the floor a little bit. We did a lot of good things.”
They did what they usually do, taking loads of 3s before and after the Hawks’ invitation, and then did a lot more.