Not short on determination
Feel-good win comes with just 9 players in uniform
For the first time in eight-plus seasons, the Rockets didn’t have James Harden. They didn’t have Eric Gordon or John Wall, who were out with injuries. They also were missing Danuel House Jr., who was kept away because of COVID-19 protocols.
The Rockets on Thursday also did not have the distractions and disruptions that had filled the season.
It was remarkable how much more quickly the Rockets moved without the baggage.
With a stunning finishing kick, the Rockets surged past the Spurs 109-105 for their first victory in the post-Harden era and their first road win under Stephen Silas, overcoming so much that had been stacked against them.
“It felt great,” Silas said. “Not only were all those things going on, we were on a two-game losing streak. To get this win with nine guys, everybody who played contributed to this team win. It feels really good.
“It’s something to build off of for sure. We don’t want to make too much out of it. But it was a shorthanded, tough-minded, gritty group that found a way to win without a primary ball-handler on the floor … against a very good team on the road. All of those combined to make it a special win, but something we need to build on, not rest on.”
The Rockets got contributions wherever they turned, from Christian Wood setting an early tone on his way to 27 points and 15 rebounds, to P.J. Tucker coming up with the final, game-winning stop in a matchup with DeMar DeRozan.
Along they way, Sterling Brown scored a seasonhigh 23 points in his first start with the Rockets and Jae’Sean Tate, in the first start of his career, had 13 points and 10 assists, the most for a Rockets rookie since Steve Francis in 1999-2000.
“We had a team meeting after that last game against the Lakers, and we just drew the line there,” Tate said. “We came together. We talked about it. It was displayed tonight, our togetherness, our junkyard dog mentality. That’s what we wanted from the start of the season. There’s a lot of guys on this team, and the coaching staff, the GM, everybody has so much to prove. We came out tonight
and did the job.”
Even rarely used rookies Mason Jones and Kenyon Martin Jr., veterans of 36 NBA minutes between them, contributed off the bench while the Rockets wait for the acquisition of Victor Oladipo to become official so he can replace Harden in the starting lineup.
“It was great,” Silas said of his three rookies’ play. “Obviously, Jae’Sean started and played great. But without the contributions of Mason Jones and Kenyon Martin Jr. we wouldn’t have won this game. Those guys haven’t been playing at all and came in and were really effective for us.
“(Tate) was so good. He was just really good on both ends of the floor. It was definitely a complete game from him. When he was on the floor, we were good. He did it all.”
The Rockets had shown from the start that they had expectations few others had for them. But
perhaps more impressive was the response when the Spurs seemed to start putting the game away.
Keldon Johnson had burned the Rockets through much of the game on his way to a career-high 29 points. DeRozan began to get going. The Spurs held a nine-point lead, their largest of the night, with 4½ minutes left.
But the Rockets had spent the night responding to doubts and overcoming obstacles. With Wood knocking down a pair of 3s and Brown sinking another, the Rockets took off on a 15-2 run as if it were expected all along.
“It was a huge win for us just to get off to a good start with everything that happened the last couple days,” Brown said. “It was a game we needed. Everybody is confident, the whole organization, the team is confident in whatever lineup we have out there. Whoever is out there, we’re going to go out there and play hard, do what we got to do. No excuses.”
With that, at least for a night, the first night since the turmoil came to a head and perhaps was at last behind them, the Rockets showed they could be “good enough” after all.
“The whole team came together,” Wood said. “I guess you could say it was a blessing in disguise. I don’t think our slow start to the season was all on one person. We all have to come together and play together.”
On Thursday, they did to get a stunning win and a fresh start.