With Demarcus Cousins hurt after playing only 9 minutes and Rudy Gay out after only playing 6 minutes, the Rockets had it pretty good. This game was a confidence builder and an easy win for the Rockets. The Kings got it down to a 9 point deficit early in the third quarter and that was the closest for the rest of the game. Some players who haven’t had much time on the court lately/this year got to shine.
D-Mo played a lot of minutes, and even though he didn’t score much, he played some pretty good defense on Cousins and is getting some seasoning. Casspi had a great game with a double double, 20 (a season high) and 12. It’s hard to quantify Beverley’s presence but it sure is good to see him back in action. In only his second game back after his month out, Beverley provides intensity, fire, spirit, defense, toughness and spark. He’s the first one to go pat someone on the back after a nice play. Beverley had a clean block on the play (a foul was called) where Cousins rolled his ankle. He got a technical called on him for staring at Cousins after the block. Beverley has street cred.
Harden got to put the ice packs on with more than 10 minutes left to go and a 20 point lead. Even though he shot 0 for 5 from behind the arc, Harden had 24 points, shot 10 of 10 from the line, and had some awesome passes. His 9 assists really got Howard going. He made some awesome lobs and tight dishes in the paint. He gives Howard so many easy dunks, it’s no wonder Howard is 5th in the league in field goal percentage.
Howard had another one of his typical double double nights. He was 10 of 13 from the field, had 13 boards and led the Rockets with 26 points. Howard would’ve had a lot more points if he wasn’t 6 of 17 from the line. He also got to rest early and was the first one off the bench to celebrate Covington’s first points as an NBA player. The news came out today that Howard was going to go back to play on team USA with Harden. Rockets fans will totally enjoy that.
Parsons continues his steady play with a double double of 19 points and 10 boards. The only bummer for him and Rockets fans today was that it looks like he was left off of Team USA. He had a pretty good mini session this summer with the young guys of Team USA, but apparently he’ll have to continue to up his game to get an invite to represent in the world games. I liked to hear that he was mad about that. Maybe he’ll have something to prove.
The Rockets got all their points in the paint, from behind the arc and at the line. They only got 4 points the whole game from the rest of 2 point land. That’s the Rockets moneyball working tonight. And that’s with the Rockets shooting only 25% from behind the arc.
With 2 of the best 3 Kings players hurt, it’s tough to say this game was anything but a scrimmage, but we’ll take it. With starters resting, backups getting minutes and our injured players healing, this is a solid victory. When was the last time our starters got to rest significant minutes in the 4th quarter? After losing the first two this season to the Kings, the Rockets dominated tonight.
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