Truly, A Tale of Two Halves
This was an odd game for the Rockets. A game that might have gone badly, might have ended up close, but finished in a walk for the Rockets. In the end this was a victory for Rockets depth and intensity, especially in the second half.
The first quarter featured at lot of scoring, and not much defense from either team. It also featured Memphis shooting about 75% from three in the first frame. The quarter ended up 38-38, which certainly wasn’t the plan for the Rockets defensively. The good sign with all that Grizzly shooting was that most of the shots weren’t being made by the key Grizzlers. Instead it was Jay Huff, Scotty Pipper Jr., John Konchar and Jaylen Wells who seemingly could not miss for Memphis. Rockets fans could hope that the Memphis three point barrage might grow less accurate, and it eventually did.
Amongst positive signs in the first quarter for the Rockets was Fred VanVleet shooting well, along with Sengun and Jabari (when the Rockets weren’t missing bunnies near the rim). We also saw Reed Sheppard check in late die to VanVleet fouls and drain two threes.
The Memphis stars, Ja Morant and Desmond Bane showed up in the second quarter, whereas neither the Rockets bench, nor the starters managed to do much. Midway through the quarter the Gristle lead by 12. The Rockets seemed to lock in at that point though in what marked a turning point in the game.
The comeback was lead as you’d expect by tough defense, great shooting and overall great play from…Jalen Green. Green almost personally brought the Grizzlies lead down to six in the final six minutes of the second. He scored three straight threes, assisted on plays, and generally played like, dare I say it, an All Star. For six minutes anyway. When Jalen actually defense, shoots and passes well for stretches, he’s almost an avalanche. Perhaps these moments will become more common. If they do, the Rockets future looks a lot brighter.
You might look at Jalen’s stat line and conclude tonight was more of the same, but it truly wasn’t. He tried to pad his numbers late, and of course, missed. If you didn’t watch, take my word for it, Jalen was good, and key to the comeback.
The Rockets went into the half down 6, and came out like a buzzsaw on both ends of the floor. IT was Jalen to start the quarter, but Alpie and Jabari got in on the act to cut the lead to two. Dillon Brooks also contributed. It was, however, the bench (and Jalen and Sengun) from halfway through the quarter that broke the Grizzlies. After the Rockets took a lead courtesy of Green and Sengun with about five minutes left in the third, the bench took over, especially Amen Thompson and Tari Eason.
When the third ended, the Rockets had brought about a 21 point swing in the score, leading 98-83.
The fourth quarter was mainly playing keep away, but between Tari and Cam Whitmore, who bullied Ja Morant in the frame, the Rockets managed to put any Memphis comeback hopes to bed with more defense leading to offense as it did in the late second and third quarters.
This was a team effort by the Rockets, lead by the guys you want to see lead – Jalen, Alpie, Jabari, Fred and Dillon – they scored 86 points for the Rockets, with Jabari on the low end at 14pts, and Jalen at the high end with 22.
Tari Eason scored 13pts in 16 minutes on 5-7 shooting, and 3-4 from three along with 5 boards, 2 steals and a block. Amen had moments of confusion tonight, but also of brilliance, scoring 9 on 2-4 shooting and 5-5 FT, along with 6 rebounds and 3 assists.
Cam Whitmore scored 11 on 5-12 shooting, but continues to be erratic from the FT line – 1-3. He also got 5 fouls, but it was a whistle reminiscent of the start, rather than the finish of last season.
We’ve so far had 70+FT games on two occasions overall, and tonight’s Rockets/Grizzlies game saw 62FT off some really tetchy and tedious reffing from David Guthrie and Co. Tonight there was a 99FT “effort” in the 76ers/Raptors game. For those scoring at home, that’s more than 2FT per minute of official basketball. I truly hope the NBA isn’t going back to the crap of last season, pre the mandate that wasn’t a mandate from the league. So far, it appears that they are.
Unlike the opening night loss which saw the Rockets rebounding fall apart in the second half on tons of offensive rebounds for the Hornets, the Rockets controlled the glass overall. They outrebounded the Gristlies 64-43, and out offensive rebounded them 23-14. Those second chance points, and removing a lot of similar opportunities for Memphis made a huge difference.
Hopefully this game resets alarm bells a bit. It was truly a team win, from strong and balance scoring from the starters and great play from the bench.
The Rockets face the Spurs in San Antonio tomorrow night. Hopefully they can keep rolling.