Odds-defying victory shows growth
Close road effort with eight players qualifies as monumental moment
There are not many things the Rockets do as rarely as coming back from doubledigit deficits, but there is one.
The Rockets had trailed by 10 or more 42 times this season. They had lost on 40 of those occasions. But if those games didn’t present long enough odds to conquer, on Sunday they found themselves in a close game on the road, the sort of situation in which they had not won in nearly three months.
As if to defy all that precedent, the Rockets saw the Magic close from down 14 to within a 3-pointer, then pulled away in the final minute, snapping a five-game losing streak with a 114-110 win at Amway Center in Orlando, Fla., as if they do it all the time.
“I’m super proud of my team,” Rockets coach Stephen Silas said. “We played eight guys. We only had one point guard. We had guys playing out of position. We had a stretch we had to play zone because K.P. (Kevin Porter Jr.) had five fouls. And we hung in there.
“It was really good, spirited and all those things. I was racking my brain all day trying to figure out the rotation, because I knew we weren’t going to have ballhandlers on the floor. For them to go out there and play their hearts out and take the lead and keep the lead … that’s growth from our group, and I’m happy about it.”
The Rockets were even more shorthanded than usual with John Wall sitting out the first game of the back-to-back, leaving them without six regulars.
But while Porter bounced back from a 1-of-9 night Friday to score 22 points with seven assists before fouling out, Armoni Brooks made five of six 3-pointers as the only guard off the Rockets bench.
Christian Wood had 25 points with 10 rebounds to lead the Rockets, knocking down their final field goal in the last minute. Kelly Olynyk added 24 points, with Jae’Sean Tate totaling 14 points, seven rebounds, six assists and three blocked shots while playing as a point forward.
Yet the greatest change from their norm was the comeback from down 12 to a 14-point lead. The Rockets turned the game around when they finally discovered they had a much better chance of scoring when they were not passing the ball to the other team.
They trailed by 12 when they had 12 first-half turnovers. While committing just one in the 7½ minutes to end the first half and begin the second, they outscored the Magic 27-9, capped by a 12-0 run to build a six-point lead.
The Magic rallied, and when Gary Harris finished a layup with 3:18 left, he reduced the Rockets’ lead to 107-103.
The Rockets still held a three-point edge when got the stop they needed. Wood picked up Harris on a drive, forcing a turnover with 55 seconds remaining.
Wood followed that by going one-on-one and pulling up in the lane for a jumper for a five-point lead with 39 seconds left.
“I was really happy, especially considering K.P. had fouled out, so we didn’t have a true point guard on the floor,” Silas said of how the Rockets closed out the win. “Avery Bradley did a good job in a role he hasn’t had since he’s been here. Jae’Sean brought the ball up a couple times. Kelly brought the ball up a couple times.
“For us to find organization, the big play where Christian caught it up at the top and drove it and finished in the paint, that was a huge play for him in the fourth quarter.”
That was just about enough to clinch the win, but Cole Anthony drained a 3-pointer, his first of the game and just Orlando’s third of the second half, to cut the margin to two with 27.5 seconds remaining.
The Magic fouled Olynyk to stop the clock with 14.4 seconds left, and he made both free throws, but Anthony answered again, bringing the Magic back within two. Bradley, however, made two more free throws to ice the win. After the Rockets had made just 10 of 16 free throws — and three of six in the fourth quarter — they made their final four with the game on the line.
“Guys buy in with each other,” Wood said. “We knew we were shorthanded with John being out. We all came together, and guys just clicked. That’s what we need. We need to execute in the fourth, late game, like we did.”