Success follows after aggression returns
The Rockets had changed. Sometime between LeBron James ducking as Cam Whitmore smashed down a dunk as violently as if ringing the bell at a state fair and Alperen Şengün flexing in front of the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, there was no doubt they were defiant and determined again.
They might have been transformed even earlier, with those moments and many like them punctuating the attitude adjustment on display.
The Rockets would like to think they changed back to what they were early in the season, before things became rocky through much of January and they were so often disappointed in themselves.
There was something different about the Rockets as they piled up a 30-point lead Monday and then turned back a Lakers rally to take a convincing 135-119 knockout.
The Rockets were aggressive and physical and more than a little annoying to the veterans with championship rings. They enjoyed the transformation.
“I feel we did a great job coming out with energy,” said Dillon Brooks, who called out himself and his teammates after a loss at Brooklyn two nights earlier. “Our bench had a lot of energy, starting with Cam. If we play defense like that … every single first half, we’re a very scary team.”
The Rockets played with the determination they lacked in a terrible first half against the Nets. They moved the ball as they rarely have, getting a season-high 36 assists. They scored reliably well, piling up a season-high 108 points through three quarters, with Jalen Green scoring 34 (two games after producing a season-high 36) while adding a career-high 12 rebounds and seven assists. Şengün had 31 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists.
Beyond all that, and perhaps even more important, there was a swagger to their play, especially in the first half, when the Rockets scored a season-best 78 points just one game after they trailed by 21 in the first quarter.
“It was night and day from Brooklyn, obviously,” coach Ime Udoka said. “Carried it over to the second quarter. We struggled to score against Brooklyn, only 15 (in the first quarter) there. A much more concerted effort to attack, get out in transition, pass the ball.”
The Rockets were determined to start fast after the first-quarter flop Saturday. They were literally fast, scoring 20 fast-break points in the first half, more than any team averages per game, and matching their season high with 29.
Whitmore highlighted that sudden scoring explosion with three consecutive first-half slams on his way to 20 points. But there was also a defiance in the Rockets’ play, with Whitmore on one occasion scoring inside and handing the ball to James as if to help.
“It’s great to play against him, to fight against him, and to win against him, too,” Şengün said of competing with James. “It always feels good to play against him.”
Brooks’ play against James always brings a spotlight and often brings controversy. But the Rockets needed Brooks’ attitude, having begun the season inspired by it but since straying from his physical style. Brooks said Saturday that he would have to lead the return of that energy and attitude. On Monday, he said he did.
“I think it starts with me, just bringing that energy from the beginning,” Brooks said. “It’s physicality, defensive presence, and then everyone trickles down and follows through. We don’t think we have our swagger back off of one game. We have to sustain it and make it consistent every single game.”
The Lakers argued that Brooks went over that line. Twice. He was called for a foul in the first half for shoving Jarred Vanderbilt in the back on a drive, a foul that inspired Vanderbilt to smack him in the back of the head to get a second technical foul and ejection. Brooks hit James in the face while crashing into him in pursuit of a rebound, earning a flagrant foul, penalty-one.
James would not comment, giving a “next question,” when the subject of playing against Brooks was mentioned. Lakers center Anthony Davis, however, did not hold back.
“You’re going for a wideopen dunk, and you just push him in the back. It’s not a safe play,” Davis said. “Guys get hurt like that, and you’ve got to know the type of player he is. They kind of let that just keep going on and kind of provoked it. He talks and says whatever he wants to the refs, to players, and at the end of the day, we’re men, and no man is going to talk to another man the way he was talking to Vando.
“You take a hard foul; it’s part of basketball. But you’re just not going to blatantly push someone in their back when they have no control of their body in the air. I think he should have got ejected for that. And then … it was just a blatant hit on LeBron to the face.”
Asked about the shove of Vanderbilt that especially angered the Lakers, more so when they watched video after the game, Brooks said: “I feel like he may feel like I did a dirty play. When he feels that way, he likes to bump. It’s basketball. We bump and tussle. I feel like he took it a little too far.”
The history between Brooks and the Lakers from last season, when he called out James and then was badly outplayed in an L.A. Memphis playoff series, likely will not be forgotten as long as Brooks is in the league. But for the first time, even Brooks acknowledged he crossed the line last season when trying to play “with an edge,” as Udoka described it.
“It’s practice,” Brooks said of maintaining what he called an “alpha dog mentality” without losing control. “Last year, I let it get too far. Now, I feel like I have a rein on it.”
Udoka wants Brooks to avoid “cheap fouls.” Brooks’ 3.7 fouls per game are the most in the NBA. But the coach said there are benefits that come with his style.
“He’s got to keep his discipline and composure there,” Udoka said. “But that’s the edge he gives us and has given us all year. It’s a natural thing for him. He brings that toughness, and our team feeds off of him.”
After the loss to the Nets, the Rockets were starving for it. On Monday, they had their swagger back and enjoyed it.
“We need that every night,” said Jabari Smith Jr., who amassed 18 points, nine rebounds, four assists and a career-high three steals in his return from a sprained ankle. “It can’t be nights that we’re lacking that. We have to be that team, that aggressive team. That’s what we preached all offseason. We were that team tonight.
“Just the team that people don’t want to play against, a team that gets chippy, a team that is fighting, a team that will do anything to win.”