It’s been three years since the Rockets played their last NBA game, and even an ugly preseason game is like a sip of sweet water in the desert. Well, it may have only been a few months, and the water may not have been that sweet, but a grudge match win over a division rival in the Dallas Mavericks is a relief for the Houston Rockets and their fans. It was among the longest and most grueling affairs ever to unfold in preseason, and may have ended on a comical, if appropriate, note, but a win is a win. Even if the win doesn’t matter.
Why was the game so ugly? There had been 49 fouls by the end of the first half, and the game ended with a total of 81. The Rockets and Mavs split 109 free throws, with the Rockets hitting only 64% of theirs. The game came in at three hours long and featured Dwight Howard fouling out in under sixteen minutes of play. The Rockets couldn’t buy a bucket to save their lives in the first half, and for much of the game Howard led the team in free throw percent with 50%. It was a horrible, awful, no-good game… that the Rockets ended up winning.
Kostas Papanikolaou was the hero at the end of the game, somehow drawing the 81st foul on Jae Crowder by shooting a three that left .2 seconds on the clock. In a regular season game, all of this would have been absurd in the extreme, but in preseason it’s totally reasonable to have a rookie the Rockets didn’t even pick up in the draft win the game at the free throw line. To his credit, “Big Papa” came alive late after missing a pile of shots early on, ending up with 12 points on 11 shots, 6 rebounds and an assist. If he can learn the NBA game this season and contribute even a tiny amount, his signing looks to be a stealthy smart move from the Rockets.
Some other players were on the court, too. Trevor Ariza looked solid, and more like Wizards Ariza than Rockets Ariza version 1.0. His handles have definitely improved, though he’s still better off leaving that to the guards as much as possible. His shot is good and he looks like a great fit in the system (such as it is). Motiejunas stood out, hitting turnarounds and playing defense. He’s come a long way from even last year, and as with many players, his third year may be when he makes the leap. Beverley, as always, played at close to fusion reactor intensity, which is apparently his only setting. Ish Smith did a fine job backing him up, and between Smith and Isaiah Canaan, the Rockets hope to smooth over the pothole left by Lin’s departure.
The defense looked better, especially in the bench units. If nothing else, the Rockets seem to have collectively owned up to their poor defense and are at least trying to scramble to fix it. Giving up 108 points to a team hardly looks like good defense, but it was preseason, and the Mavs have a startlingly good offense. They also look to have a pretty grim defense, something the Rockets capitalized on. The offensive system seems to be a similar “read and react” (or “dunno, go do something”) system as last year’s team, but seems at least less cluttered. Harden and Howard are still doing Harden and Howard things for better and worse, and the rest of the team seems to have little qualms about being complementary pieces.
It may not have been a glorious trouncing of Mark Cuban and his mean words, but a win over the Mavericks is probably the best way for preseason to start. Players played, rookies made mistakes, and the referees blew their whistles a lot. The NBA is (sort of) back in Houston, and it’s been way too long. And until things kick off for real in three weeks, this’ll do just fine.
