An early present from the Hornets.
This was a nice, comfortable win for the Rockets to start their Christmas holiday (for those who celebrate). After playing the night before in nearby Toronto, the Rockets headed to Charlotte, North Carolina to play the Hornets.
I’d hoped for a win against a Charlotte team, that while facing several injuries now, still came back from 18 down against the Rockets to start the season. Charlotte hadn’t played since Saturday, as well.
When the game began, though, the team with the energy was clearly the Rockets. Despite missing Dillon Brooks, a late scratch with an ankle issue, and Tari Eason (rest? soreness? injury?), the Rockets came to play, and start their holidays early.
The first quarter saw Good Fred VanVleet, who after going 1-11 in Toronto, went 8-16, with 5 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal and 2 turnovers for 20 points tonight. Jabari Smith continued his good run of form with 21pts on 7-14 shooting, 2-5 from 3pt range, with 11 rebounds and 2 assists.
Honestly, all the starters looked good on offense with 16pts/8rbs/2ast for Sengun in 27 minutes, and 19pts, 11rbs, 3ast, 1stl, 3blk (two spectacular) for Amen Thompson. The only starter without good offensive numbers was Green, but the Rockets really didn’t need him. He went 3-8, but with decent looks, and a bit of bad shooting luck.
Maybe on one or two occasions Jalen took an ill-advised shot, but his shot diet has flipped from mostly questionable attempts, to mostly good attempts. He only played 24 minutes, not because anyone was angry at him (from what I could tell) but because the Rockets were dominating, and didn’t need his scoring. He probably should have had several more assists, as he’s really passing the ball fairly well now.
In any event, it didn’t matter. The Rockets just dominated this one. The final score line won’t indicate it, as Charlotte left their starters in late into this blowout, and despite general indifference to their opponent in the second half, the Rockets still won by 13.
At the half the Rockets lead 62-31. Yes, you read that correctly. The Hornets averaged 15.5 points per quarter in the first half. The Rockets defense really was that good.
The Rockets more or less played keep away in the third quarter, while not expending the same effort on defense overall, and then played a lot of the deep bench in the fourth quarter, while the Hornets didn’t pull their starters, despite being down in the high 20s for a while, until fairly late in the 4th quarter.
So what appeared to be a CHA comeback was really nothing of the sort, it was the Rockets goofing around (6 Amen Thompson 3pt attempts), and running out the clock. Maybe if the Hornets had five quarters, they could have caught up?
Nobody wanted to stick around for that, especially the referees, who were grudgingly dragged into calling fouls in the second half, as they apparently wanted to get home for the holidays and out of this game, in under 2 hours, if possible.
The bench played a good bit, and we saw more solid, stabilizing, minutes from Tate, and a scoring outburst from “One Man Offense” Cam Whitmore. Cam, back from exile, and politically rehabilitated, scored 17pts on 7-15 shooting in 27 minutes, along with 7rbs, 2stl, and one spectacular chase-down block.
Steven Adams maybe had his best game as a Rocket, dominating the interior, for 8rbs and 3ast in 12 minutes.
Reed Sheppard continues to rush shots, or hesitate on shots, and generally shoot it poorly, going 1-7.
Overall this was easy peasy for the Rockets, against a Charlotte team that has some good players, but is somewhat incoherent in approach to, well, basketball.
The Rockets play next in New Orleans on Boxing Day, or December 26th.