By: Paul McGuire
As Bill Worrell brought up multiple times during the broadcast, the Toronto Raptors have had the best offense in the league over the past month. Not the Warriors. Not the Spurs. The Raptors' duo of Kyle Lowry and Demar DeRozan, combined with a surprising level of ball movement from coach Dwane Casey, have been the best offense in the league.
Houston Rockets fans had every reason to expect that such an offense would eviscerate the team's shoddy and patchwork defense. For about two and a half quarters, that happened. First it was Luis Scola (yes. THAT Scola, at 35 years old), then Lowry, and then DeRozan. Each seemed to take their turn with their own scoring outburst which threatened to finish the Rockets off.
But while Houston would have buckled almost any other night, tonight was different. The Rockets started making threes after going roughly 0 for 1000 over their last two games. James Harden woke up and had 40 points on 20 shots, 14 assists, and just one turnover. Corey Brewer had his best game of the season. The result was that Houston rallied from an 18-point deficit to win in Toronto for the first time since 2007.
But the Rockets made the comeback because for one of the few times this season, this team actually played defense and relied on basic fundamentals and rotations. Just like the Spurs on Christmas Day, the Rockets shut down one of the top offenses in the league, played hard, and secured a terrific comeback.
And a lot of that defensive improvement was thanks to Clint Capela.
A mere glance at the boxscore would tell you that while Dwight Howard had a terrific game, Capela was okay at best. 21 points and 11 rebounds for Howard compared to 5 points and 3 rebounds for Capela.
But while Howard had a +/- of -6, Capela had +11. And while Howard fell victim to an absolutely ridiculous call in the second quarter, Capela did do a better job of keeping his hands up, not committing bad fouls like Howard's sixth, and just protected the rim. When Howard left the game after fouling out, the score was 104-104. But over the final two minutes of the game, Capela contested Lowry and DeRozan at the rim, raced down the court to score in a way which Howard cannot do anymore, and led the way for the eventual win.
Capela lacks the bulk needed to be Houston's full-time starting center, and has hit a wall of sorts ever since starting the season strong. But even though tonight did not look impressive in the boxscore, it was probably one of his best games this season.
Still, Capela only played ten minutes, and it appears that Bickerstaff is shortening the rotation. Even though it was the second night of a back to back, the bench tonight played a total of just 58 minutes, compared to 82 minutes against Chicago. Whether this represents a long-term rotational change or was just a one-game thing remains to be seen. But if there is ever a time to shorten the rotation to ensure the Rockets make the playoffs, that is now.
Even if it means that certain players have to be cut out of the rotation. Terrence Jones being benched was surprising enough, but with six good frontcourt players, someone had to be left out. But Josh Smith also recorded a DNP-CD.
Smith has had some good moments. But he has not been the spark to revitalize the Rockets that some have hoped for. As a Rocket this season, Smith is shooting 31 percent from the field, 22 percent from long range, and has a PER of just 6.1. And as much as people fixate on his three-point shooting, Smith has never been a great finisher at the rim either. He just cannot score, and aims for risky passes too often which further exacerbate Houston's turnover problem.
Let us be honest. If Jones was putting up numbers that bad, Rockets fans would have called for him to be benched a long time ago. But we like Smith for obvious reasons, and so have put up with his shoddy play with nary a word.
Bickerstaff is making the right move to play Harrell and Capela over Smith and Jones. It is just not about building for the future. The reality is that right now, the two younger guys are actually better players.
Overall, this was a fantastic win. Houston had not won in Toronto since 2007, and many of those losses had been outright humiliating. And with the Blazers and Mavericks losing tonight as well, this improves Houston's chance of getting out of that eighth seed and not getting destroyed by the Warriors juggernaut in the first round.
Well, if Corey Brewer can outshoot Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson in the first round, the Rockets may have a chance. May.
