Fried Nuggets: Rockets Feast on Denver, Cook Up 130-104 Win to Close Decade
Rockin’ Celebration. Hiding in Plain Sight. New Twin Towers.
2019. A year featuring ups, downs, highs, lows, and everything in between, for Rockets basketball. Optimistic hopes heading into the 2019 playoffs. Another season ended at the hands of the Warriors. Trading Chris Paul. Getting Russell Westbrook. The China incident. James Harden’s constantly-improving MVP-caliber play. The annual injury bug. Ben McLemore’s perfect-fit and resurrection in Houston. Front-office tension. Brodie perfecting playing second-fiddle to the Beard. Talk of an era at stake. Rumors of Coach Mike D’Antoni on the hot seat. This past year had it all in Houston Rockets basketball. Storylines covering everything. Well… almost everything. The Rockets fell short of the ultimate prize. That elusive NBA title. Expectations to win a championship puts more pressure on this core of Houston players than any before. But these Rockets know they’re capable of the ultimate prize. And they took another step towards their goal by closing 2019 with a 130-104 beatdown of the Denver Nuggets. The Beard tallied 35 points and Russell Westbrook scored 28, as the superstar duo combined for 63 points on 53.8% shooting to lead Houston to victory. The win moves Houston to within a game of second-seeded Denver in the loss column out West. The Rockets controlled this game from the outset. Houston led by 12 points after the first quarter. However, the Rockets fell back on some bad habits, letting the Nuggets back in the game, and led by only 3 points heading into the fourth quarter. Nikola Jokic led Denver with 21 points, one of six Nuggets who scored in double-figures. Fortunately, Houston buckled down defensively in the final period. After allowing 41 points in the final quarter in their previous game at New Orleans the Rockets only gave up 15 points to the Nuggets on Tuesday night, en route to running away with a blowout victory. Houston didn’t need to sweat out the final seconds of a game after putting the clamps on to start the final period. It’s this type of effort saves the squad minutes, and energy later in the season.
Other than Brodie and the Beard, the highlight of New Year’s Eve was the continued revelation of Isaiah Hartenstein. Houston’s biggest weakness, their lack of frontcourt depth, is dramatically improved if Harty keeps this level of play up. And there’s no reason he shouldn’t. “Hustlestein” never received enough playing time to prove himself in the past. Now that he’s gotten court time, he’s shown his value can be contributional to Houston’s rotation. Hartenstein finished with 16 points and 12 boards, and continues to impress in the defensive and hustle areas of the game. Coach D’Antoni said Isaiah didn’t get as many chances in the past because of foul trouble. With injuries always opening up chances for other players to assume new roles, Hartenstein and Ben McLemore have seized their opportunities this season in Houston. Harty will be the backup center to Capela, and Chandler will shift to the third man in the Center position for Houston, per D’Antoni. It’s a move that helps a thin Houston interior. Against the Nuggets, Houston’s newest twin towers combined for 32 points and 22 rebounds. As long as Harty can stay out of foul trouble, he won’t be hiding in plain sight anymore. The Rockets secret weapon has been sitting on their bench all this time. Injuries, do have their benefits, after all. If Gordon and Capela weren’t injured for extended periods, Harty would still be riding the end of the bench going into the New Year. Eric Gordon finished his second game back from injury with 12 points, and has been stellar from beyond the arc since his return. Splash Gordon is shooting 7-for-12 from downtown over the last two games. Hopefully it’s not a small sample size, rather an indicator that Splash Gordon is back to prime form.
Despite letting Denver back in the game, Houston had a stellar defensive final period, and beat the team with the second best record by 26 points. In the first game since early November that the Rockets have been completely healthy. A sign that when at full strength, this team can beat anyone, anytime, anywhere. This Houston squad, especially after unleashing their newfound secret weapon in Harty, will be a force to reckon with this year in the NBA. 2020 will likely feature many of the same highs and lows the team experienced during 2019. But this year brings new hope. The Rockets have a realistic chance to bring Houston something the city has yet to see this century: an NBA Championship.