This was a good game because Phoenix isn’t a bad team. They may not be a great team, they may not be a playoff team, but they’re not bad. They might even be good. Dillon Brooks was certainly good tonight,
going 11-22 for 29 points. Looking at that stat line it’s hard to recall him missing 11 shots, because he was making extremely high difficulty turnaround jumpers off Dillon’s Dribblin’ Adventures with regularity. For three quarters he almost personally kept Phoenix in the game, as no one else on the Suns broke 20 points for the contest.
Both teams were depleted. We did get to see Dillon Brooks attempt some “revenge” for getting traded to another starting role, and more important one. We did not witness the undoubtedly epic Jalen Green vs Kevin Durant matchup. The Suns managed to injure Iron Man Jalen Green almost immediately and Kevin Durant is out for two games (we expect) dealing with a family matter. The Suns were also down Grayson Allen, Mark Williams and Ryan Dunn. The Rockets sent Jae’Sean Tate to RGV to get some reps, and of course Tari Eason, Fred VanVleet and Definitely Fictional Signing were out for the Rockets.
But with injury comes opportunity. Reed Sheppard started tonight. Would he make the most of it? In brief, no. This was far from the best Reed Sheppard outing with him only scoring 7pts on 2-9 shooting and 1-5 from three point range. He did manage 5 assists, and 3 steals in his usual 27 minutes.
Alperen Sengun had a decent, but not great, game. He scored 18 on a solid 8-14 shooting, and was 2-4 from three. He added only 5 rebounds, and 5 assists against 4 turnovers. This was a game that didn’t have Alpie’s imprint on it. The best way to put it might be that he got out of his teammates way, to let them handle things.
Jabari Smith, quietly having an excellent season that would only likely be improved with more usage, scored 17 points on 6-11 shooting, with 7 boards, 2 steals and 2 blocks. He’s really filling up the stat sheet, and it also seems like having Kevin Durant around has had a positive effect on Jabari. He seems far more aware that he can just shoot over people, or throw it down on them. He still sometimes does the repositioning when he should be shooting, but far less often. His handle is also more secure. Not great, but far better. While it’s obvious the Sengun extension is great value, so is Jabari’s.
But with those three players not breaking 20 points, where does this 22 point win come from? Who lead the way? Josh Okogie? Sorry, Josh Okogie is definitely the Ime Udoka Authorial Insertion Character, but like Ime, he’s no scorer. He only contributed 9 points on 4-11 shooting, though he was seemingly everywhere on the court, grabbing loose balls, harassing Suns players, and generally being a menace.
Who is left then? Welcome back, Amen Thompson. I’ve missed this version of you. Tonight the Rockets coaching staff did something different, something better, I think. They stopped trying to make “Amen Thompson Primary Ballhandler and Initiator” happen. This is excellent news. When Amen is the point guard, his game gets stymied, as every single team will work to stop basket attacks from the opponent’s primary ballhandler. If that player’s handle isn’t very strong, those attacks become very difficult. I think that’s what we’ve seen lately, with Amen moved out of the dunkers spot, and off the wing.
Here’s some crazy news. Amen is a wing player. Tonight he got to be one. Tonight he scored 28 points on 10-16 shooting, 1-1 from 3pt range, 7-7 from the line (all deserved as Devin Booker got a well deserved Flagrant One for a completely non-basketball takedown of Amen, and Nick Richards elbowed him in the face (inadvertently I believe – it was a collision that was legitimately a foul on Amen, though a painful one for him, too). He also had 7 rebounds, 8 assists (4 turnovers, but mostly early, he was very strong in the second half). Tonight Amen seemed to realize that his combination of speed, and deceleration, is basically unstoppable by anyone in the NBA, except perhaps his clone.
We also got a standout game from Aaron Holiday. He contributed 22 points in 27 minutes, competently replacing Reed Sheppard in some respects tonight. He was 8-17 overall, but 6-10 from three point land. The 6-10 part was vital. The 2-7 part was still…The Holiday Season as Aaron kept trying, and trying, and trying to make an absurd teardrop shot in the lane, in traffic. Finally he DID make it, and fortunately he stopped. The problem isn’t so much he missed those shots, but that he attempted them after passing up a catch and shoot opportunity when he was pretty clearly on fire from deep. Still, this was an excellent Aaron Holiday outing, as he played good defense, and notched 3 steals.
The Rockets, in their commitment to freeing Amen also played JD Davison real minutes, as he logged 18, in which he added 4 assists, no turnovers, and made both his shot attempts.
What might we have learned from this? As huge as the Rockets are, guard play matters. Despite playing one high draft pick guard who still hasn’t come close to playing the minutes you’d expect from a third overall selection, Aaron Holiday, and GLeague MVP JD Davison, the Rockets had that most precious commodity – spacing. In it Amen flourished, Sengun provided a lot of threat (and a worrisome recent tendency to get into trouble and telegraph the pass out of it for a turnover). Jabari Smith cashed in on the open driving lane. Aaron Holiday made easy looks from three, and the Rockets, despite playing an odd lineup, won pretty easily in the end.
Something to remember, perhaps?
Still no polls. Sorry.
