Even up, in an uneven victory.
Well, that was more difficult than necessary. The Rockets have yet to play three good quarters in a game, let alone four, this season.
This game the Rockets started off with a fury, winning a dominant first quarter 29-15. It felt like San Antonio was there for the taking, but the Spurs managed to rally late in the 2nd quarter, after the Rockets had them down 20 points. Despite improved play from the Spurs, the Rockets managed to barely win the quarter, by 3 points, 33 to 30. Despite some ominous signs, the lead was 17 at the half.
The Spurs came out of the half focused, and the Rockets had another one of their common spells of absolute zero, frozen, offense when the opponent locks in on defense. Still, they managed to play keep-away during a Spurs run for most of the quarter. In the end though San Antonio’s shotmaking, and the Rockets lack of any sort of easier offense to run under pressure saw the Rockets begin a collapse as the third quarter ended.
The Spurs onslaught continued, while the Rockets had another stretch of not being able to get out of their own way. The only Rocket would could score at all was of course Mr. Reliable, Jalen Green. Between the beginning of the 4th and 3:17 remaining in the game the only Rockets to score were Sengun, with a split pair of free throws, and Jalen Green, who scored six points.
The game was down to three points at 94-91 at the mark of 3:17 left. This was in large part due to the best offensive game I’ve seen from Chris Paul in quite some time, literally a couple of years.
From that point, though, the Rockets buckled down. Jabari Smith made a key three pointer, Jalen and Jabari made their freethrows. After a truly, ah, remarkable call for the Spurs which lead to a six point play, Fred VanVleet nailed a three on a good pass off a Jalen Green drive to salt away the game. The contest would finish 106-101 after Wembanyama did a little late stat padding.
As wins go, this one was both a relief, and frustrating. Frustrating because the Rockets can’t hold a lead, and can’t keep the scoreboard moving to do so, and the coaching staff doesn’t seem to offer any answers in those situations.
It’s a relief not to lose two to the Spurs, despite the road back-to-back, and a second road game in San Antionio.
Before I get to Rockets doing good things, I want to say that the way Victor Wembanyama is officiated is frankly absurd. You don’t have to give a player who is a walking cheat code a “Win” button as well by calling almost all contact in his favor. If any contact he doesn’t like, which is all of it he doesn’t initiate, is a foul, well, I guess the NBA has a new superstar.
Watching him two games in a row made me wonder if he’ll be the sort of superstar that Anthony Davis is. That is to say, one that gets a lot of attention, but nobody actually likes that much, except the hometown team.
There was also also an exchange where Chris Paul should have had a four point play on a made three pointer. But the referees, who are still calling games like 2⁄3 of last season (someone needs to send Monty McCutchen to a nice farm upstate to run and play) saw fit to make the play a Flagrant 1 on Eason, so it ended up being a six point play for the Spurs. Because of course it was.
As for the Rockets, we might be a seeing a breakout from Jalen Green. He’s playing with a level of competence and maturity we haven’t seen before. Tonight he was the difference between a win and a loss. He went 11-22fg/7-133pt/7-7FT/1rb/2as for 36 points. It was his key pass late for a VanVleet make that sealed the game.
Is it happening at last? Stay tuned.
Jabari Smith also played well with 17/8.
Sengun had a tough game dealing with doubles, Wemby, and the Spurs packing the lane on him. That worked last time, but with Jalen shooting it better, that technique of doubling Alpie and packing the paint might not be long for the world. Still a “tough game” was still 12/12/5/1/1 for Sengun.
Dillon Brooks had the tough job of guarding Wemby, and he did it well.
Tari Eason continues to make good things happen, while Amen Thompson is finding his way a bit, out of the dunker’s spot.
Steven Adams offered very good minutes, which didn’t show up as much statistically, but helped win the game.
Fred VanVleet played 41 minutes, didn’t shoot it well, except for what amounted to the game winner. He also dished 9 assists to 0 turnovers, and is simply a winning player all around.
That’s it for now. The Rockets don’t play again until Thursday when, staying in Texas, they meet the Mavericks in Dallas.