Win streak continues
Everyone joins in on the fun for 4th straight rout, season-high total
Winning was enough. The way the season started for the Rockets, it was plenty. It was not everything. The Rockets’ turnaround had brought signs of a revival. It had even delivered a blowout of the Golden State Warriors. But it had not yet allowed them to declare that they were all the way back.
They might have announced that with a Saturday night romp at Toyota Center. Thanks to an offense that had previously been shaky flying through its best night of the season, the Rockets completed a four-game, four-rout week with a 132-112 romp past the Sacramento Kings in their top-scoring game of the season.
“It’s better, it’s much better,” Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said. “We’re making shots.”
He always insisted they would, even when the players could not make the shots they hit in practice.
Last in the NBA in fieldgoal percentage, the Rockets made 49.8 percent of their attempts in the fourgame winning streak, fourth best in the NBA during that stretch.
Their offensive rating in those four games, averaging 123.5 points per 100 possessions, was by far the league’s best. They went into the week with their offense ranked 27th.
After beginning last week coming off consecutive losses in which they scored 80 and 85 points and with one win against a team with a winning record, the Rockets (8-7) have now beaten a fourth consecutive team with a record better than the .500 mark they brought into the game.
They did it by averaging 115.8 points in the four wins, after averaging 101.5 (second fewest in the league) through their first 11 games.
“It’s definitely where it should be,” guard Eric Gordon said of the turnaround of the Rockets’ offense. “We’re creating a lot of opportunities, and it’s becoming more of a fun game for us. We’re just getting back to where we need to be.”
While scoring at least 100 points in less than three quarters for the second time in four games, the Rockets had their most points heading into the fourth quarter since putting up 120 in Phoenix last season on the night they had a 90-point first half.
Yet, the Rockets did not gain control of Saturday’s game until they turned up their defense.
Second in the NBA in points allowed in the third quarter and fourth in opponents’ field-goal percentage, the Rockets went from allowing 59 points on 52.1 percent shooting in the first half, to giving up 27 points on 35.5 percent shooting in the third quarter.
“We’re making shots, playing the right pace,” guard Chris Paul said. “It’s our defensive end, though. We gave up over 100 tonight, but for the most part, the defense was good.”
The biggest problem defensively was with the run of points off turnovers and second-chance points the Rockets allowed, but much of that came when they built their commanding lead and eased up early.
They never were threatened, with their Big Three of Paul, James Harden and Clint Capela dominant.
Harden scored 15 of his 34 points in the third quarter when the Rockets expanded a 16-point halftime to 109-86 entering the fourth quarter.
Paul added 24 points, on seven of nine shooting, just the second time in his career he scored 24 or more points on nine shots or fewer. In the past four games, Paul has made 59.1 percent of his shots after making 33.3 percent in the previous four games.
Capela dominated on both ends, scoring 23 points while grabbing 16 rebounds and getting a season-high five blocked shots, one shy of his previous six games combined.
“I think all of us are finding our pace and our rhythm game by game, which is a great thing,” Harden said. “Clint was very active, finishing around the rim, blocking shots, rebounding the basketball. Complete game for all of us.”
Perhaps even more encouraging, the Rockets got 17 points off the bench from Gerald Green, who had not scored in double figures in any of his previous seven games and was getting his first extended playing time since spraining his right ankle four games ago. He became the eighth player in NBA history to make at least five 3-pointers in fewer than 14 minutes.
“Welcome back, Gerald,” D’Antoni said.
The same could finally, unreservedly be said of the offense as a whole. It had been a long time coming. Even after the victories along the way, the Rockets were not ready to declare much beyond improvement. But by week’s end, with one more blowout in the books, they were ready to believe they were back.