Despite a stressful ending, Houston was able to get the dub and maintain the second seed in the West
In a matchup between the two seeded Houston Rockets and the three seeded Memphis Grizzlies, Houston walked away with not only a win, but stayed at the two spot in the West as well. Led by Alperen Sengun who had 20 points at half and eventually a 32 point double double, the Rockets overcame a late game scare to secure their third straight victory.
As said, Sengun had himself a night, dropping 30+ for just the third time this season to go along with 14 rebounds and 5 assists. While he did struggle from the line, going just 7-15, he was able to make it up by shooting 12/20 from the field and chasing the boards.
Jalen Green was also on a heater against Memphis, going for 27 in his fifth straight game of 20+ points. Dropping a quick 13 in the first quarter, Green stayed relatively quiet until the fourth where he dropped eight of the team’s 18 fourth quarter points. The efficiency was solid as well which is always a good thing as Jalen finished 11/21 from the field and 4/8 from beyond the arc, now setting him at 21 threes over his past four games. Another man who was a prime leader of Houston, especially in the crunch time was veteran point guard, Fred VanVleet. Fred finished the night with a game-high 41! minutes to go with his 22 points, 4 assists, and 4 steals on 8/13 from the field and 3/7 from three. Slowing down the game when it mattered is something only a true vet of the game can do successfully, and that’s what FVV did, getting the eventual game-sealing mid range pull up to go.
All around, Houston put up a very solid performance, especially considering they only went 24/41 from the free throw line. In a game that should’ve been a lot less stressful than it was, the trend of poor officiating and missed free throws lingered on for the Rockets, hence the close score. Not to discredit Memphis in any fashion, but made free throws could’ve changed this game from only being decided by four, to being a potential blowout. However, it didn’t, but Houston was able to pull away in the end and secure the road victory due to their strong first half.
Defensively though, this was far from Houston’s best game, let alone their average game, allowing the Grizzlies to shoot 50 percent from the floor. Not only that, but Houston was outscored 62-48 in the paint, with not too many misses coming from close by Memphis. But, forcing 19 turnovers and converting to score 31 points off of them, the Rockets had an answer to their defensive struggles, a common and consistent theme we’ve seen this season.
While it was far from the perfect game, this is a type of team you’ll see in a playoff setting, so getting the win was much needed, especially considering Houston is at the least now tied with Memphis in any tie-breaker scenario from now on. The Rockets move on to 25-12 and keep their second seed status in the West, now a game and a half over Memphis. The next one up for Houston is Saturday against Atlanta to close out their three game road trip.