Two-man game
Paul, Harden pair to stretch winning streak
James Harden and Chris Paul are making the initial skeptics look like fools. Two ball-dominant guards, who sucked in defenders and forced teammates to revolve around them like suns in separate galaxies, had spun the potential of their alignment into question.
They were two of the best guards in the NBA before this season. Wednesday night, in the Rockets’ 11th consecutive win, they looked better together than they had apart.
Again, they turned competition into comedy, combining for 52 points and 19 assists in a 10896 win over the Hornets. The Rockets remain atop the NBA at 22-4, the second-best record through 26 games in franchise history, behind the championship 1994 team.
The Rockets poured in 25 unanswered points during the first
half, too much for the Hornets to threaten thereafter.
“Game’s over,” coach Mike D’Antoni said while reflecting on that stretch.
In the last five games, Harden and Paul combined have averaged 55.2 points.
D’Antoni searched for “superlatives” to describe the collaboration of his guards for what seems like the hundredth timen.
“They’re one-on-one players, they’re off-the-ball players, they’re defending, they enjoy each other,” D’Antoni said. “They make it work.”
Despite churning the league’s most prolific offense, the Rockets often have started sluggishly. After scoring the first point Wednesday, they needed more than nine minutes to retake the lead.
Usual tepid start
“We got off to a bad start,” Harden said. “And then, after that three-minute mark in the first quarter, we got stops. Chris got hot. He got extremely aggressive, and we just rode that wave the entire game.”
Joining the Hornets this season has rejuvenated Dwight Howard. Early in the game, he punished the Rockets, his former team for three embattled years, and forced D’Antoni to swap Clint Capela for the bulkier Nene.
Howard’s 26 points proved inconsequential.
The Rockets swiftly overcame a six-point deficit in the first quarter when their bench scored 13 points to bolster Harden’s persistent drives.
Paul sank an off-balance buzzer-beating 3 to cap the Rockets’ 25-4 stretch. Harden leapt out of his seat along with the fans.
“Just to see him have that confidence to shoot that,” Harden said, “it’s just a great sight. Not only the fans and the teammates, but everybody around the world loves to see Chris Paul do that. If he wants to shoot the ball three, four times in a row, he can do that.”
Paul shined brighter than Harden in their black jerseys Wednesday. He propelled his season-high 31 points with his seasonhigh five 3s.
With Harden off the floor to start the second quarter, Paul kept up the pace: another 3, a strip, a no-look pass to Capela for a transition dunk, a weave in and out of the paint to find Ariza for an open 3 that detonated the crowd.
Rockets fans and opponents have come to expect surges this season, but the Hornets, despite going 0-for-8 from 3-point range, outscored the Rockets in the second quarter.
“We allowed them to get confidence going into halftime,” Harden said. “You can’t give teams hope, especially when you have them down like that.”
The Hornets’ 10 consecutive points only slowed the inevitable blowout. The Rockets ended the half ahead 63-49.
Momentary scare
A left-shoulder injury to Luc Mbah a Moute in the second quarter stung the Rockets more. He hammered in a two-handed dunk with so much momentum he crashed to the floor and writhed in pain. A cart rolled out, but moments later Mbah a Moute stood up and walked to the locker room. He did not return to the game.
D’Antoni said Mbah a Moute will get an MRI on Thursday.
“He’s the ultimate glue guy,” Harden said. “He’s been a key piece to what we’re doing and where we’re trying to go.”
Hornets interim head coach Stephen Silas lauded the dominant duo of Harden and Paul.
“They’re both able to control the game with their dribble, they both make their teammates better, they’re able to get wherever they want on the floor, they both shoot 3s,” Silas said. “They’re really tough to guard. And if you’re trying to switch, they beat the switch, if they don’t switch, they’re going to draw the second defender and beat the play.”
Previous doubts about the Rockets made for noise Harden ignored. He expected that Paul, the greatest point guard of his generation, would improve if they paired.
“I knew he would,” Harden said. “That’s why he’s a Rocket.”