A bit sloppy, but at least they have their health
It was finally time to see them again. All of them.
For the first time in over a month, the Rockets were all finally healthy and available Monday night.
As good as they’ve been — No. 2 in the stacked Western Conference — they’d been short-handed for almost a month.
The excitement and anticipation for Monday’s matchup against the Heat could be felt pregame. But when the Rockets finally took the floor, healthy and on a high after beating Golden State on Saturday night, they didn’t live up to the hype. Not right away, anyway. The Rockets won the game — their third victory in a row — 99-90. It wasn’t pretty, though. They struggled to get multiple good possessions in a row. They could never quite take control of the pace, and their rotations looked disjointed at times.
But they kept it close and in the end pulled away, largely due to a few key defensive stops and stellar late-game play by stars James Harden and Chris Paul.
The game was sloppy, and the Rockets were certainly tested. But when it’s all said and done, they earned a “W.”
And showed they can do that in a way that a lot wouldn’t expect.
“To be good, you have to find different ways to win,” coach Mike D’Antoni said.
“We did that tonight. We had to dig deep. We had to rely on defense, and we did that.”
The Rockets’ play in January has spoken volumes.
Stretches with injuries to key players.
Suspensions for a couple of players.
Losses that should have been wins.
A win over the top team in the NBA.
They’ve done a lot, in a lot of different ways, and stayed near the top of the league standings.
Monday’s victory won’t stand out in the grand scheme of things. It wasn’t against a top team, although Miami does have the fourth-best record in the Eastern Conference.
In-game adjustments
But the Rockets won in a way that showed another side of them — a side that will be crucial moving forward.
They adjusted well to the team they were playing — a scrappy Miami squad that forced D’Antoni to tweak his lineups and pushed the Rockets to defend the way they did earlier this season during a 14-game winning streak.
It had been awhile since all of the Rockets were available. That winning streak that propelled them into the spotlight was in November.
After injuries that sidelined a handful of players — from Paul, Harden, Luc Mbah a Moute and Nene to name a few — and suspensions for Trevor Ariza and Gerald Green, the Rockets were finally able to regroup. It’s a good thing. Even though it didn’t always look like it.
The Rockets looked gassed at times, particularly some of their top performers. Eric Gordon, who was key for a lot of the stretch with players out, struggled with his shot, going 0-of-7 from the 3-point line. He’s now 0-for-16 in the last two games.
But while he’s slumping from long range, Gordon has figured out how to be effective anyway. He frequently finished around the rim instead and scored 16 points.
As the Rockets move forward with the team intact, they have some things to figure out.
Green stays seated
Rotations have changed a lot in January.
One of the month’s key contributors, Gerald Green, who is averaging 18.3 points, didn’t play Monday because there weren’t enough minutes to go around. D’Antoni hoped to get minutes for 10 players Monday, but with the way things were going — the Rockets were down by 14 at one point — he didn’t have the freedom to play around with his lineups as much.
Just over a week ago, the Rockets had eight players available. On Monday, nine played.
“I feel bad that Gerald didn’t play tonight, but rotations are going to be different. So when guys are out there, they will have to make the most of their minutes,” D’Antoni said.
Green will see more time. Gordon will find his shot.
The Rockets will face more challenges like the ones they ran into Monday night.
They’ll go through more stretches of injuries, will pick up a couple more bad losses.
But they will also know that they are a team that can find multiple ways to win games.
They didn’t have quite the reunion they’d hoped for, but they walked away from Toyota Center with a win Monday night. That’s a positive.
So is the fact that the Rockets are back to full strength and healthy.
Finally.