It gets worse....they live in enemy territory...Plano, TX.
By: Forrest Walker
The Houston Rockets have stopped giving up. Sure, they sometimes give up points, or possessions, or leads from time to time, but they aren't giving up in the larger sense. They won't quit, they keep grinding through injury, and with the exception of one blowout this season, they never seem to know when they're beat. This back-to-back contest against a Western Conference playoff candidate should have been a loss. The Rockets were missing Dwight Howard, Terrence Jones, Isaiah Canaan and Kostas Papanikolaou. Patrick Beverley, while back in action, was coming off the bench. Injuries and fatigue kept coming in waves, something which ought to be simply too much to deal with.
The Rockets went ahead and dealt with it anyway, holding off a late push just long enough for a blowout victory to melt into free throws late. James Harden battled back tightness late in the game and he was visibly uncomfortable. He's expressed that he doesn't expect to miss games, but the pain clearly hurt his performance against the Suns. Francisco Garcia joined the ranks of the mobile field hospital, this time due to an ankle sprain. Another injury is never good, but the silver lining is that the injury bug seems to be moving down the depth chart, not up.
In his return to action, Patrick Beverley stole the show. He hit 5 of 8 three pointers, racking up 19 points on the evening. 6 boards, 3 assists, a steal and a block filled out a line that would have been fine on three point shooting alone. Having a real, dedicated point guard helped, and having a feral defender on the perimeter is a huge boon. While the Rockets wait for various body parts to heal, getting Beverley back into the rotation is an excellent stop-gap.
Harden had a poor scoring game, but a huge night otherwise. He had more shots than points (15 on 21 shots), but he also grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds (!) to go with 7 assists, 2 steals (!!) and 3 blocks (!!!). His mediocre outings are still exceptional, and his team has unlikely wins to go along with them. As long as some role players keep showing up, the Rockets will keep surprising good teams.
Tonight, that role player was Donatas Motiejunas, Houston's resident Lithuanian post-up wizard. His 16 points and 11 rebounds looked good yet again, pouring more fuel into the D-Mo hype movement. Motiejunas looks far better than last season, whether the change is mental, physical or technical. His post moves continue to allow him to score on plenty of frontcourts, especially teams full of young players like the Suns. Motiejunas will have a major test coming up in the Warriors, but in the meantime he's the toast of the town.
Jason Terry and Trevor Ariza got to shooting, with Terry winning the shootout by hitting all three of his threes. 19 points on 15 shots still looks great on Ariza, a player who started hot but has entered a shooting funk. His defense is still elite, however, and on most nights that's all that matters. Terry continues to shoot well, even though his penchant for errant passes continues to hurt the team here and there. He's doing more than could be expected at the point guard position, but the Rockets have to hope he won't stay there for long.
Despite a late struggle, the Rockets led by double digits for the majority of the game, something which seemed scarcely possible just a couple short weeks ago. The Rockets are winning games by playing defense, by sticking to the plan, and by attacking relentlessly. This team might not be able to will their way to every victory, but they've willed themselves into the second seed despite their injuries. Until everyone is healthy again, the Rockets will keep picking fights they can't win, and they won't give up until they win them anyway.
