Splashed down
It’s probably illegal to say anything about this year’s Houston Rockets without using the word “scrappy,” so allow me to point out that the Rockets are certainly scrappy this year. And whatever the Thunder’s game plan against them, it needs to be scrapped: they fell back by 17 in the third quarter, fought back to within a single point midway through the fourth, but couldn’t make it stick, as Houston won their third straight against Oklahoma City, 95-90.
You could probably see it coming: Trevor Ariza rolled up 23 points in the first half, finishing with 31, and were it not for the fact that Aaron Brooks had a bad night — he had five points and five fouls — it could have been much worse. Chuck Hayes, the world’s shortest center, had 13 points and 15 boards; the Rockets reeled in 17 offensive rebounds (45 total). Perhaps more important, they turned the ball over only eight times. And Tracy McGrady? T-Mac put in seven minutes, and while he didn’t garner impressive numbers, he got quite a response from the Toyota Center crowd.
Once again, the Thunder bench was invaluable, contributing 31 points, 15 of them from James Harden. Jeff Green led the squad with 21; Kevin Durant was held to 13. OKC outshot the Rockets, 46 to 42 percent, but the Thunder couldn’t come up with the long ball: only two of ten from beyond the arc. And while they played decent defense otherwise, they couldn’t stop Houston’s long-distance attack; Ariza had five treys, and Shane Battier had three more.
The Lakers are next. Maybe I’ll go to bed early Tuesday night. The weather’s supposed to suck anyway.
