httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAIEcu26Z74
Analysis can be found after the jump. Thanks to the national holiday and my predilection for cornbread (and need to fill my face with it), the links will have to wait until tomorrow.The Rockets won a game yesterday. It seems strange that this feels like an event, a happening, as Rockets fans have grown accustomed to winning consistently over the years (especially at this time of year, when it matters least). Alas, last night’s victory was the fourth of fourteen games, a gasp for air a few minutes after the coroner had finished up. Despite its seeming meaninglessness, beating the Warriors in November should give Rockets fans wishing to pull this season out of the mire of irrelevance a bit of hope. Things looked absolutely right at times; Rockets drew fouls, made defensive recoveries that exhibited more than the requisite amount of effort and fought (fought!) for loose balls. The Warriors made runs because they’re the Warriors, and, for once this year, the Rockets responded because, well, they’re the Rockets: a team that should be capable of handling one like Golden State at home when keeping their two best scorers to an atrocious 39 points on 40 shots. Houston did just that.
I’m not much one for handing out game balls, but Kyle Lowry and Luis Scola did everything they are so good at yesterday without showing their faults too often. Scola knows where this offense needs him to be so well, and he helped a team without much interior penetration move the ball just enough so that shooters had that extra foot or so of space that makes the difference between shooting .337 from behind the arc (the Rockets’ mark for the year) and 10-20 (Houston’s expert percentage last night). No, the Warriors didn’t put up much fight or move guys like Kevin Martin or Shane Battier off of their preordained “I will make it from here” spots, but unlike in the past 14 games, the Rockets took advantage and executed. On the defensive end, Lowry tipped balls, convinced high-octane scorers Monta Ellis and Stephon Curry that their best options were to launch from deep (not that they need to much coercion) and helped anchor a Rockets defense that really needed to prove to itself that it could make stops when they counted and still have enough energy to create efficient shots on the other end of the court. Over and over, the Warriors pulled to within one or two in the third quarter, breathing down the Rockets’ necks, daring them not to fold like they had seen them do earlier this year (and, if the Warriors had been paying attention, a lot of times since).
The Rockets did not blink. Rick Adelman shortened his rotation, and the men in the game played with that confidence that their coach had shown in them. With that, the Rockets played fluidly and happily. Chuck Hayes made no-look-passes that led to easy buckets, and Chase Budinger hit a couple of shots behind that painted line that has haunted him so much this year. Saying that demons were exorcised last night simply does not take into account the competition last night (a very poorly motivated Golden State outfit that is in the middle of a bad losing streak, a common theme among all of the Rockets’ beaten foes this year), but if you’re looking for hope from this version of the Houston Rockets, something could be mined from last night’s victory. I’m just not sure for what Rockets fans should be hoping. Let’s all hope the Rockets keep positing that dilemma to fans like me by continuing to climb out of their collective grave.
Houston Rockets 111, Golden State Warriors 101
For all American readers, have a happy Thanksgiving and enjoy whatever it is that will put a smile on your faces today.