Rockets Outduel Cavaliers, 135-131, Sweep Season Series
For Your Consideration. Big Three. Advanced Prayer.
For the second straight game, Houston narrowly avoided a collapse, as the Rockets beat the Cavaliers, 135-131, in Cleveland on Saturday night. After holding a 17-point lead entering the final period, Houston managed to survive once again despite allowing the Cavs to score 47 points in the quarter. The Rockets also weathered a combined 72-point outburst from Cleveland’s All-Star backcourt comprised of Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland. In consecutive games, Houston showed that after losing a big lead, they can still close out a game late against elite competition. It’s a tremendous sign of growth from this very young and talented Rockets squad, now winners of eight of their last ten games.
Alperen Sengun dominated Jarrett Allen all game, as he scored 26 points, along with Jalen Green, to lead the Houston. The All-Star Reserves will be announced this Thursday evening, and Sengun put on another dazzling display, showing why he should be highly considered by voters for his first All-Star nod. And Saturday’s win improves the Rockets record to 30-14, still with a grip on second place in the brutally competitive Western Conference. Houston is now the only team to sweep Cleveland this season, and the Rockets are the NBA’s only team with wins over both conference leaders, the Cavaliers and the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Steven Adams had his best game since he joined Houston and was the unsung hero in the victory. In the midst of a third quarter rally, the Cavs employed a Hack-A-Steve tactic, intentionally fouling the less than 50% free throw shooter. Fortunately for the Rockets, Cleveland’s plan backfired. Adams found his shooting groove, as he nailed 6-for-9 shots from the line en route to a season-high 14 points. Fred VanVleet continues to find his rhythm as well. FVV scored 20 points on 6-for-9 shooting from beyond the arc, including a couple of clutch threes. After a slow offensive start to the season, VanVleet is really starting to stroke it, hitting clutch shots in a very timely fashion for Houston. It’s truly a luxury for the Rockets to have their fourth option in FVV drop 20 points on 13 shots while dishing out 6 assists. The murmurs of trading VanVleet need to stop. FVV’s simply too valuable in this role as Houston’s floor leader, the same role he won a title with in Toronto.
For the Rockets, Sengun is their most talented player, and Green is their most explosive option. But when it comes to this team’s most valuable player, it’s starting to look like Amen Thompson. And Houston officially has their own “Big Three” in Sengun, Green, and Thompson. All players with superstar potential. Twin had his second career triple-double on in the win over the Cavs. Thompson finished with 23 points, 14 rebounds, and 10 assists. Yet it’s the intangibles he brings on both ends of the floor that makes Thompson so valuable and such a key to Houston’s winning. On offense, Twin fits perfectly with Sengun, despite the fact that neither player is an efficient shooter. The pair’s knack for floor spacing and finding teammates is something that doesn’t show up in the box score. These guys are the perfect example that there’s more to spacing the floor in basketball than catching and shooting three’s.
Twin can guard any position on the floor, and in transition, he’s one of the best players in the league on either end of the court. But it’s the combination of Thompson’s uncanny ability to ready the body language of opposing players, mixed with his own hard-to-read body language. Twin rarely is demonstrative on the court despite all the amazing plays he makes. Instead, Thompson uses a calm and stoic persona on the court to deceive his opponents. Due to his insane physical shape and youth, Twin’s facial expressions never truly reveal how hard he’s playing. Yet he’s almost always in the right place at the right time on defense, frustrating opposing players of all sizes. After a quiet rookie year, Thompson has blasted onto the national radar with his play this season.
Up next, the Rockets continue this tough road trip with a visit to Boston to battle the Celtics on Monday night. The defending Champs served Houston a blowout loss in the first matchup earlier this season in H-Town. However, Thompson didn’t play in that game as he was serving the second game of a two-game suspension. Expect a much tighter contest in round two, as the red-hot Rockets seek revenge over the Champs in Beantown.