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Houston Rockets 91, New York Knicks 86: The Beard saves the day.

Tonight’s game served as a demonstration both of the importance of having a superstar as well as the fact that even NBA teams without one can pose a serious challenge. Even though Houston did not have three of its starters tonight, the Rockets came out and just outplayed Carmelo Anthony and the Knicks for nearly the entirety of the first half. Melo got his points for much of the game, but the rest of his team seemed completely unable to score. Then with 1:45 left in the second quarter, Anthony left for the locker while gingerly clutching his back. He would not return for the rest of the game, and Houston led 49-38. Easy pickings, right?

Wrong.

Buoyed by Houston’s carelessness, the Knicks promptly closed out the second quarter on an 8-2 run, and then made life miserable for the Rockets for the next one and a half quarters. They switched on every play and forced the Rockets into multiple poor offensive possessions, particularly in the turnover department. J.R. Smith, Pablo Prigioni, and Travis Wear (a rookie from UCLA whom I had never heard of before tonight) hit some major shots. As the Knicks took a 78-72 lead in the fourth quarter, they appeared to be playing better without their superstar and ready to defeat a team with one.

But at the end of the day, New York’s lack of a superstar worked against. James Harden came in with eight minutes left in the game, and proceed to either score or assist on every single Houston basket for the remainder of the game. He finished with 36 points on 11-22 shooting, and an invigorated Houston crowd chanted “MVP” when he stood at the free throw line at the end of the game.

I discussed my concerns about Houston’s offense and its dependency on Harden in the recap against Dallas, so I do not intend to discuss it in detail again. When Terrence Jones, Dwight Howard, and Patrick Beverley return, the Rockets will gain offensive options that they currently do not have while maintaining the elite defense which has led them to victories throughout this season. Still, there were far too many turnovers tonight. After losing Carmelo, New York adjusted their defense to switch whenever they could, preventing the Rockets from making passes for easy shots. Despite his late game heroics, Harden did have five turnovers, including one pass in the third quarter which appeared to be aimed directly at New York point guard Shane Larkin. Kostas Papanikolau also struggled badly on the turnover front and finished with five in just 25 minutes of play.

But despite the offensive problems, the defense has been a beauty to watch. While Harden deserves praise for turning into a good defender after the past few seasons, Trevor Ariza also has changed quite a bit defensively compared to his previous stint in a Rockets uniform. Ariza was not a bad defender back in 2009-10, but he did have a penchant for trying to intercept passes. This was fine when he did succeed, but it just as often left Houston’s defense scrambled and vulnerable when he failed. Ariza this season is no longer doing this as often and has been much more fundamentally sound in comparison to the old Ariza. Nevertheless, he still managed to get three steals against the Knicks tonight. While Ariza’s offense and shooting has been up and down for much of this season, his consistency on the defensive end has been an important steadying factor to a team whose starting lineup seemingly changes from game to game.

But big men remain the linchpin of any elite defense, and the Rockets big men have filled in admirably without Howard. Even Joey Dorsey managed to get some good minutes on the defensive end, much less Tarik Black and Motiejunas. Motiejunas in particular really has become a plus defender. He makes mistakes, especially on the pick and roll, but his speed and length helped to guard the paint, whether from New York’s guard driving or their big men.

But it is one thing to guard Quincy Acy and the corpse of Amare Stoudamire. On Wednesday night, the Rockets will be taking on the Sacramento Kings and a center comparable to if not better than Dwight. Patrick Beverley and Jones will be out for that game, but Howard might be better by then. We will certainly need him to take on Demarcus Cousins.






About the author: The son of transplants to Houston, Paul McGuire is now a transplant in Washington D.C. The Stockton shot is one of his earliest memories, which has undoubtedly contributed to his lack of belief in the goodness of man.

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