HARDEN AND PAUL HELP CHILL THE HEAT
Gritty game yields first victory when scoring under 100 points
At some point, the Rockets knew there was no escape.
They were caught in a Miami Heat kind of game.
From the latearriving crowd to the slow-down pace, they were not going to change that.
The Rockets don’t win games like that, only partially because they don’t play games like that.
But Monday night at Toyota Center, there would be no other way.
The Rockets could not string together made baskets, could not run, only occasionally splashed their way through a string of 3s.
Given their choice, they would prefer to roll up their
kind of numbers as they did two nights earlier to beat the Golden State Warriors.
It might have meant more, or at least something different, to grind out a 9990 win the Heat way.
“We felt the game was in our wheelhouse,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “I liked the tempo and everything about the game.” The Rockets didn’t. But once they cranked up the defense, after giving it most of the fourth quarter off, they made the Heat’s
kind of game their own.
For much of the game, the Rockets worked the clock as much as the Heat, often putting the ball in James Harden’s or Chris Paul’s hands to generate looks late in the shot clock.
The Rockets made just two fast-break shots all game, none in the second half, but by then, they had embraced the idea of having to win in a different way.
“You just had a feel for it,” Paul said. “It was going to be a grind-out game.
“Shots weren’t falling. We dug ourselves a hole early. It was one of those games.”
Though Paul did not want to read too much into a win taken “by any means necessary,” especially against a shorthanded opponent, there was a sense it will not be the last time the Rockets have to win the way they did Monday.
The Rockets had failed to score 100 points in just three games this season, losing them all.
They have won six of their past seven games, but in the previous five wins, they had averaged 117 points.
A good indicator
Through three quarters Monday, they had managed all of 71, but seemed to relish a chance to win with defense, only in part because they had no choice.
“When you win lowscoring games like this, it’s a step to being able to win all kinds of games,” Rockets forward P.J. Tucker said. “That’s the key to finishing the season strong and go into the playoffs.
“Obviously, we don’t want those kind of games. It took us a while to figure it out.”
After a terrible start defensively, when Hassan Whiteside made his first six shots and the Heat made nine of their first 10 on the way to a 14-point, first-quarter lead, the Rockets’ defense stepped up.
With the Heat playing without Goran Dragic and Tyler Johnson, the Rockets seemed to wear down the rotation players remaining.
In the final three quarters, the Rockets allowed just 57 points on 39.3 percent shooting.
“After the initial hit, the 33 points we took from them, I thought our defense really stepped up,” Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said. “We played hard as heck.
“We get an emotional victory on Saturday and then … we didn’t come out of the gates very well. But after that, our defense was solid.
“It’s just the matter of, can we bring the heart and energy and soul, fight and grind it, and let our two guys find a way to win.”
Formidable duo
Harden and Paul found it down the stretch. With the game tied heading into the final four minutes, Harden hit a deep 3 and a baseline jumper. After he missed consecutive shots, he directed Paul to the low blocks, with Paul sinking a turnaround 18-footer for a five-point lead with 38.8 seconds remaining.
He at first was not looking for the clincher, but Harden left him no choice.
Familiar sweet spots
“I was about to set a ball screen for him,” Paul said. “He was like, ‘Get to your sweet spot, get to your sweet spot.’ We both know we like the ball right there in the midpost. It’s cool. I got it. If not, he got it. It’s tough.”
The game was every bit as tough as beating the Rockets’ star backcourt proved to be in the final minutes. But at least this once, the Rockets decided they liked it that way.