This might be the best Rockets win of the season. It’s certainly my favorite win.
There’s been a lot of negativity around here (looks at self) regarding aspects of this year’s Rockets team, a good bit of it deserved. This is all positivity, though. That’s because this victory carried two great signs that we can all hope continue. The first is a return of the determination, fight, and intensity of last year’s Rockets team. A team that sometimes simply enforced their collective will on opponents, despite not necessarily playing better than that opponent. The second is a victory of awareness, of recognition of problems and some positive responses to those problems. Long may it continue.
If you watched the first half of this game, you may be forgiven for finding something better to do with your life in the second half. This game was mostly a reward for Rockets degenerates, and a just punishment for those Spurs fans who think their team plays ethical basketball.
The first quarter was all Spurs, almost to the point of absurdity. It wasn’t that the Rockets came out flat, or didn’t score the ball. After a good 15-20 minutes levelling a rim with a big ladder and a fine German level, to repair Stephon Castle’s vandalism, the Rockets started with plenty of fire. It was more a case of absurdly hot Spurs being even more fiery from three, and Udokan Math not mathing. That is, trading threes for twos, constantly. The Spurs attempted 27 shots for the quarter. 13 of those shots were three pointers, of which they made 8. They went 4-14 around the basket, and in the paint, and 1-1 on a longer two point attempt. The Rockets? They had 21 FGA, and made 11-16 twos, and 2-5 threes. The Rockets also missed several free throws, while San Antonio didn’t.
There can be fewer clearer demonstrations of “three is more than two” and “quantity has a quality all its own” than this first quarter. Certainly there were Rocket defensive mistakes, mainly Alperen Sengun helping away from Julian Champanie, a 36% three point shooter on the season, who went 4 for 5 from three in the first. (He’s shooting a robust 16-29 from three against the Rockets overall this season, so maybe don’t leave him?). In any case, the quarter ended 39-28 Spurs.
The second seemed much like the first, only the Spurs cooled off, from 70% to 45% on threes, and the Rockets made a few more shots. The Rockets defense was much better, and they started fixing defensive mistakes. Still a quarter ending 32-31 in favor of the Rockets wasn’t going to do much to close the gap established in the first quarter. But the quarter began all Spurs, like the first, and slowly the impetus changed to the Rockets. Hard to spot, but the Rockets were now showing a more energy and determination, perhaps.
The Rockets would definitely display their 2024-25 season fire in the third quarter, where it seemed the Rockets were defending very well, and if the Rockets were going to go down, they’d drag the Spurs to hell with them. The quarter ended in a tie, with only 22 points scored by either side.
This defensive display by the Rockets was matched by an offense that couldn’t gain any ground in the third. This, perhaps, is at the heart of some of the criticism of Ime Udoka and his black clad cult member coaching staff. It’s very hard to solely defend your way to victory in the NBA. Holding the Spurs to 22 points is a great accomplishment. Scoring 22? Not so much. The Spurs maintained their 10 lead going into the 4th.
Then it happened. Something many of us have been waiting for all season. Perhaps it was genius, perhaps it was madness, perhaps it was pure desperation, but Reed Sheppard was turned loose on the Spurs. Not only did he pass and shoot well, he defended well, too. He almost single handedly sparked a comeback, swinging the game to the Rockets. With confidence the other Rockets played well, and got timely passes, too. The defense, very good in the third quarter, got even better. The offense, moribund in the third, came to life with a triple threat point guard leading the way. The Rockets won this quarter 29-14, and not so coincidentally, the game.
Alperen Sengun, after a not especially great first half, was dominant on both ends in the second. He finished with 20pts/13rbs/9ast. All of KD, Jabari and Amen had good games, too. KD didn’t shoot it as much, but he was 7 of 12, with 18pts/4rbs/7ast/1stl/1blk and an unfortunate 4 TO. Jabari was Dr Jaswishy, he went 7-13, and 3-5 from three, for 17pts/4rbs/1ast/1blk. Amen also had a very good game – 16pts/10rbs/6ast/1stl/2blk.
Then there was Reed, who as much as I have appreciated all that Josh Okogie brings to the table, should be starting. At point guard. He went for 21pts on 8-17 shooting, 4-10 from three, with 1rb/4ast/1stl/1blk and no turnovers in 29 minutes. He played good defense, after a fairly shaky first half. There’s no comeback without Reed. More Josh Okogie minutes won’t get the Rockets there.
Dorian Finney-Smith also looked like the players the Rockets signed. He kept Victor Wembanyama away from his spots in the second half. The Rockets overall defense really told in the second half. Here are the final shooting stats for the key Spurs. Wemby 5-21. Fox 6-15. Castle 5-19. Barnes 2-6. Champagnie, well, 8-17. Keldon Johnson drove right. Teams aren’t going to win many games in which they shoot 22 fewer shots than their opponents, but the Rocket can with the kind of defense they played in the second half of this game. The Spurs average 117 points per game, tonight they were held to 11 below that average.
This is the best win I can remember this season. I hope we see more of what we saw in that glorious fourth quarter going forward. We’re halfway through the season, with everything still to play for.
