Big 4th-quarter comeback extends winning streak to 9
PORTLAND, Ore. — The strategy could not have been simpler — or more effective.
The Rockets went to their Tuckwagon lineup — with 6-6 P.J. Tucker at center — spread the floor and let James Harden and Chris Paul go to work. To make the matchup even tougher, they had whoever Damian Lillard was defending screen, forcing Lillard to switch to try to match up one-on-one.
With that, Harden went to work. The Rockets faced their largest deficit of the season heading into Saturday night’s fourth quarter, when they unleashed Harden and blew past the Trail Blazers 124-117 with one of their most devastating stretches of scoring of the season.
The victory extended the NBA’s longest winning streak to nine games and sent the Rockets to Houston for a seven-game homestand with the NBA’s best record (20-4).
Harden poured in 15 of his 48 points and Paul 10 of his 26 as the Rockets scored a season-high 40 fourth-quarter points.
Lillard led the Blazers with 35 points but had just two in the fourth quarter as the Rockets’ small lineup defended as it had not all night.
The Rockets seemed to get their defense back in gear down the stretch in the first half and 3½ minutes into the second half and took their largest lead to that point, 72-67. But the Blazers had been far too hot for too long to not regain the shooting touch that had dominated early in the game. Hot stretch for Blazers
The Rockets might have been able to withstand that, or at least trade punches, but while Portland hit 3-pointers at Rockets levels, the Rockets misfired badly. The Blazers made seven of 12 3s in the third quarter, nearly outscoring the Rockets just from the 3-point line, while the Rockets went 1-for-7 from deep.
The 36 points Portland scored in the third matched the most the Rockets have allowed in that quarter this season and sent them to the fourth quarter down 14 points, their largest deficit through three quarters this season.
The previous largest was the 13-point hole they escaped to beat Golden State in the season opener.
Needing to get the offense going, Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni went to his 6-8-and-under lineup, spreading the floor and letting Harden and Paul go to work with little help defense to slow them.
Paul and Eric Gordon started the comeback, cutting the deficit to nine points by the time Harden returned with nine minutes left. Harden then took over, scoring nine points entirely by going one-onone to reduce the Portland lead to one heading into the final five minutes.
As with the Rockets’ first-half run, the Blazers responded, with Lillard nailing a long 3.
The Rockets kept scoring and briefly led by three heading into the final three minutes, but by then, the Blazers had spent the night making jumpers and had enough left for the Rockets to have a game go down to the final minutes for the first time with Paul on the floor. Defensive lull
The Blazers had built their early lead with some sensational shooting, the sort the Rockets could only hope would cool off with their defense nearly powerless to change. But the lead grew when the Rockets began breaking down defensively as they rarely had — save for the start against the Knicks — during their winning streak.
There was little the Rockets could do about the Blazers’ remarkable 3-point shooting early, with Portland making six of 10 3s in the first quarter to score 37 points, two shy of the most the Rockets had allowed in a first quarter this season.
The Blazers took the lead to as many as 11 points as the Rockets had issues not entirely a result of Portland’s excellence, losing players on cuts to the rim and giving up second shots far more often than they normally do.
With 5½ minutes left in the first half, Lillard drained a 3, and the Blazers had a 57-46 lead. But finally, the Rockets locked down in the halfcourt and grabbed the rebounds when the shots that had been falling missed.
The Rockets, who came into the game 3-3 when they had faced doubledigit deficits, ran through a 10-0 burst, interrupted only when Lillard drained a 3 from 29 feet. When Harden ended the half with a midrange jumper and a pair of free throws, he had 28 points, and the remainder of Portland’s double-digit lead was gone with the game tied at 62.