Rockets Close Out Clippers 111-103 As Twin Terrors Claw Clippy

So, it has come to this.

After three seasons wandering in the wilderness of 59 wins total for all three of those seasons, we’re back to complaining about wins.

Tonight the Rockets defeated the Los Angeles Clippers 111-103. Yes, it probably should have been 111-95 or something like that. It’s still a win in which the Rockets held their opponent to around 100 points.

Currently the Rockets are hold opponents to 106.3 points per game, good for third overall in the NBA (before all tonight’s games have concluded). Their margin of victory is 3rd in the Western Conference (ok, fine, 4th, but that Memphis 45 point win over Portland is doing a lot of work), and 5th (fine, 6th) in the NBA.

The Rockets held the Clippers under their season average, while exceeding their points surrendered.

The complaint comes in the fact that in the fourth quarter the Rockets let a 17 point lead drop down as low as six points, before Alperen Sengun and Tari Eason finished off the Clippers bench.

Yes, the Clippers bench are the group that cut the lead. The Rockets outplayed the Clippers starters to the point that Clippers coach Ty Lue either waved the white flag, or inserted his deep bench to find some energy. So the following players shaved 12 points off the Rockets lead:

Nic Batum, Terrence Mann and His Earth Band, “Buried” Bones Hyland, Kobe “Keldon’s Klone” Brown, Jordan “Air” Miller

This is not the group you’d expect to find energy and seemingly not miss a shot for ten minutes, but find energy they did. Greatly aided, of course, by the Rockets hitting another one of their scoring droughts. You know how it is, every Rocket is clearly trying to fix things, but winds up doing the opposite. The easy offense of transitions disappears, and the half court offense just…dies.

The end of the 4th quarter, and the quest to get the becalmed scoreboard moving again turned quite a good Jalen Green night into Another Jalen Green Night. At 7-14, 21pts, 5-10 3pt, 7rb, 5ast things looked pretty good for Jalen. Quite a nice night. That’s where things stood at the beginning of the 4th quarter. At the end, it was the exact same number of points, and makes, but with 7 more attempts.

Not all of those misses were even bad looks, in fact, most weren’t. But there it is, again. The Corner is in sight, but it hasn’t been turned. There’s too many heat checks, forced shots, and getting away from what’s working (catch and shoot 3s, drives to the basket) getting in the road leading to The Corner. Will Jalen turn it? It seems possible, if the Rockets can find something, anything, to start their offense when it’s stalled.

The stalled Rockets offense seems like a matter of confidence, more than anything else. Perhaps these wins will help them find the confidence necessary to get past the doledrums that make a lot of games much harder than they need to be?

Perhaps the coaching staff might suggest a play, or a series of plays to try? Is it asking too much to hope that might happen? So far? Yes.

Meanwhile, the Rockets remain (according the the reliable AK) the only team in the NBA that James Harden hasn’t notched 30+ points against. His start made it seem as though he’d get there.

Then he got to meet The Twin Terrors – Amen Thompson and Tari Eason. Right now the minutes from those two, played together, are turning games for the Rockets.

Tari Eason played 26 minutes, scored 18pts on 8-14 shooting with 10rbs, 1ast, 1stl, 2blk.

Amen Thompson also coming off the bench went for 18pts on 6-9 shooting, with 11rbs, 2ast, 2stl, 1blk. Alpie was a big part of the “Steals+Blocks=Stocks” club as well, going 13pts, 11rbs, 6ast, 1stl, and 4blks.

Jock Landale also logged quality minutes tonight, especially on defense.

Jabari Smith remains sadly mired in a shooting slump, and saw only 21 minutes, with the rest of those going to Eason and Thompson, as they honestly should. Jabari seems a little lost at the moment, but continues to play good defense overall, and rebound the ball in his minutes.

The Rockets will face the Clippers again on Friday evening in the first game of the Emirates NBA Cup (formerly the In Season Tournament Shindig Jamboree). Hopefully James Harden will lead his fellow Clippers down a path of debauchery in Houston, and they’ll simply forfeit the game.

It’s the only thing that will save them from Tari and Amen.