Coming together
McLemore returns to form following self-isolation in blowout victory
Ben McLemore, finally freed from self-isolation and the work it took to return, knocked down his third 3-pointer, the ball having touched his hands for roughly 2.7 seconds this season, and James Harden loved it.
Harden danced happily in front of the Rockets’ bench on the other end of the court as if no one was watching, celebrating not just McLemore’s return, but perhaps the sense that with it, that the Rockets had taken another step from their offseason travails in time for the coming reunion with the Lakers.
The Rockets needed to enjoy themselves and gave themselves a happy romp, blowing out the Orlando Magic 132-90 with by far their best defensive performance of the season.
“To come back and have high energy after two losses, we’ll take
as many wins as we can get,” said rookie forward Jae’Sean Tate, who made all five of his shots. “I think you guys are just now starting to see what we can be when we have our whole team.
“We’re still trying to figure it out. We’re still trying to figure out each other. That’ll come in time. This was a building block today. We got to get ready for some good ones coming up.”
Rockets starters were through after three quarters, Harden scoring 15 points with 13 assists, Christian Wood returning from a sore knee to score 22 points with 15 rebounds and P. J. Tucker getting a season-high 15 points, knocking down 5 of 7 3-pointers.
The Rockets’ 22 3-pointers were a season-high. By the time KJ Martin, who like McLemore made his first appearance after self-isolation, slammed home a McLemore lob for his first NBA points, Harden was raising the roof. It was that sort of night.
With the Magic desperately shorthanded — with Markelle Fultz out of the year, Evan Fournier a late scratch and Aaron Gordon sitting out the first half of a back-to-back — Orlando could barely run its offense, and the Rockets pounced.
“Obviously, they were very decimated,” Rockets coach Stephen Silas said. “They didn’t have their guys, and we took advantage. But we played hard, we really played hard defensively. And our concepts seem to be sinking in a little more. It seems like what we’re trying to do as far as being a little bit more diverse defensively is starting to kick in a little bit.”
As often as the Rockets had said they would seek to turn defense to offense, they did not just score after grabbing rebounds or coming up with steals.
There was some of that. But mostly, when the Magic could not put the ball in the basket, spending long stretches unable to even get good looks, the Rockets seemed more at ease than they have been, seemingly shooting with greater confidence.
The Rockets also got a sudden boost from McLemore, who never lacks confidence. McLemore nailed his first three 3s, launching each nearly as soon as the ball touched his hands.
“Hey, he made his first five 3s, so it was pretty good,” Silas said of McLemore’s season debut. “It was great. I didn’t really know what to expect. It gives us a stone- cold shooter on the perimeter. As you’ve seen from our previous games, we needed that shooting on the floor.”
The Rockets already were firing away effectively. Ranking 28th in 3-point percentage coming in, they made 11 of 23 3s in the first half, coming one 3pointer shy of Orlando’s field goals in the half.
Still, nearly everything along the way to a 32-point lead and a 62-33 halftime edge started on the defensive end. The Magic, especially Terrence Ross who had been the NBA’s secondleading scorer off the bench, missed some shots they normally expect to make. But they generally struggled to get good shots at all.
Orlando made just 28.6 percent of its first-half shots, just one of 12 3-pointers.
The blowout began after the Magic opened with a solid five minutes and then could not find a shot they could make. By the time the Rockets went from an early four-point deficit to a 30point lead, Orlando had made 4 of 27 shots as the Rockets outscored the Magic 45-11 in 15 minutes.
The Rockets had never lost when leading by 25 or more points at halftime, winning each of their 41 previous games with leads so large. With little chance of a first time, the Rockets got in workout, took the lead to 39 and instead of thinking of the travails on the way to the blowout, could look forward to the Lakers.