An encouraging ugly win
Defense, effort help atone for uncharacteristic misses
When Chris Paul looks at a stat sheet, he skips over points scored, ignores shooting numbers and does not check out his assists totals.
He heads straight to the turnovers and has for years. When he saw a six on the turnover line to the right of his name Sunday, he naturally mocked his play and praised all it took for the Rockets to win Game 1 anyway.
“I think the worst thing is the turnovers; look like I was with the ‘Bad News Bears’ ” Paul said. “At the end of the day, it’s all about getting the win. I think the performance by them two (Clint Capela and James Harden) and our team as a whole … the things that don’t show up on the stat sheet, the charges that P.J. Tucker took, the defense that Trevor Ariza was playing, the big steal that Eric Gordon got down the stretch. So, all in all, for us we take the win.”
Had Paul looked down the page, he might have seen a
number that did show up on the stat sheet and might have revealed a great deal about how the Rockets won the sort of game they would typically have lost in past postseasons.
Though Paul had as many turnovers as he had in any game this season, the Rockets’ 11 turnovers led to just one Timberwolves point. A team that was fourth in the NBA in points scored off turnovers did not get a field goal, not one pull-up 3 or fast-break finish, off Rockets turnovers.
Sign of team’s growth
On a night the Rockets were far from their best offensively, they were able to defend and “grind” their way to a win to open the playoffs, a performance that as much as the 65 regular-season wins that preceded it could have demonstrated the growth of the team since last season.
“It wasn’t our prettiest game, but it doesn’t matter as long as we got a win at the end of the day,” Ariza said. “Defensively, we were locked in. We played well on that end. In the playoffs, that’s what you have to do. You have to be able to do other things when something is not working.”
The Rockets made 10 of 37 3-pointers, with the shooters around Harden combining to connect on 3of-25. That helped keep things tight and required Harden take over, scoring 25 of his 44 points in the final 17 minutes. Yet, after getting a win in which the Rockets could not make the shots they have made throughout the season, the Rockets could find winning this way as “encouraging” as all those regularseason blowouts against the Timberwolves.
“They put a hex on us or something,” coach Mike D’Antoni said. “We just couldn’t make a shot. I thought they were good shots. We had four or five guys that couldn’t make shots. That’s the way it is sometimes, which is encouraging because we don’t want to rely on just making shots. I think last year, we did that, and the previous teams. But we can win not making shots.
“I’m just glad we gutted it out and now we can start playing some basketball.”
Holding the Timberwolves eight points shy of their average this season, even in a game in which Minnesota so often began possessions with defensive rebounds rather than taking the ball out of the net, might have keyed the win as much as Harden’s scoring. But they expect more from themselves.
“We didn’t make any shots and we still won the game,” Tucker said. “We had a bunch of good looks that we always take and we always make. They weren’t falling, so we put in on our defense. In the end, our defense was the formula to win and James went crazy.
“Honestly, it wasn’t a great game for us. Defensively, we still made a lot of mistakes. We played hard. Any time in the playoffs, when you don’t make shots, you shoot a ton of 3s and don’t make any and still win a game, it’s a testament to our team and what we can do.”
Defense defines role
The defense was more important to their success this season than many recognize. They were 16-12 when making 33.3 percent or less 3s in the regular season. But they went 28-2 when opponents failed to make 45 percent of their shots. The Timberwolves made 47.2 percent against the Rockets in the regular season, with the Rockets sweeping the four-game season series on the strength of their 3-point shooting. The Wolves made 43.8 percent Sunday.
“I think that’s how we won 65 games this season and will keep pushing us in the playoffs, the games we’re not making all the 3s and the crazy plays that we normally do,” Tucker said. “When it’s grind-out games in the playoffs, it doesn’t matter how you win, just that you win. It’s doing a lot of little things, getting charges, extra possessions, stops at the end. It’s something we keep looking to do.”