When Ime Udoka called the Rockets out for their embarrassing effort on defense in the overtime loss to New Orleans, it was a sure bet that the defensive effort would be anything but embarrassing. In fact, they responded by holding the highest scoring offense in the NBA to 40-percent shooting, and their lowest scoring output of the season. Meanwhile, the Rockets had one of their best shooting performances of the season. What that added up to was a 14-point win for the Rockets and getting off the hook
for continuing to lose to elite competition.
The defense started off shaky in the first quarter, with the Rockets giving up 29 points in large part due to turnovers. After jumping out to an early 10-2 lead the Rockets turned the ball over t times before mid-way through quarter and the Nuggets quickly dropped the deficit to 14-12 before Ime Udoka immediately jumped off the bench and called time out. The Nuggets ended the quarter with 29 points on 54 percent shooting. However, the Rockets would follow up that effort by holding the Nuggets to their lowest scoring quarter of the season, 16 points on 31.5 percent shooting.
That defensive effort would set the tone for the remainder of the game, up until just over four minutes to go in the game, when Ime Udoka felt safe enough to begin pulling starters and bringing in the bottom of the bench. That’s when the Rockets began playing with their food a bit, and the Nuggets were able to reduce a 21-point lead to 10 points with just over two minutes to go, forcing Ime to bring starters back in. Ultimately, the Rockets pulled off an impressive win over an elite team. Granted the Nuggets were missing important players, but the same can be said of the Rockets, proving that depth is the name of the game.
Kevin Durant and Reed Sheppard were both impressive and impactful in this game. Reed dropped 28 points off the bench in 30 minutes of play. He shot 9-of-15 from the field, 6-of-9 from three, added 2 rebounds, 2 blocks, 3 steals and 6 assists. During his best stretch he scored 11 straight points. Most impressively, he only turned the ball over one time in 30 minutes on the floor Durant was determined to not let the Rockets have another let down as he was aggressive and efficient with 31 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists. Durant was in his bag and brought an edge to the Rockets that had been missing in the previous two meetings.
Alperen Sengun didn’t have the mega box score he had in the previous meeting, with only 8 points on 4-of-9 shooting, but unlike the last meeting he was a +24 on the floor. He and Stephen Adams held Nikola Jokic to a relatively subpar performance, at least by Joker standards. He finished with 25 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists, 5 fouls, and was a -20 on the floor.
The Rockets can put to rest for now they narrative that they are unable to beat teams .600 or better, but that won’t go away until they can do so consistently. Their next shot will come on Christmas day against Luka Doncic and the Los Angeles Lakers. Rockets fans will likely still be a little on edge until then, but don’t let it get in the way of your last minute Christmas shopping. If the Rockets are paying attention, all we want for Christmas is a three-game winning streak headed into that game. With Sacramento coming up tomorrow, and the Clippers on Tuesday, surely that isn’t too much to ask? We will be right here to cover it all, my TDS family. Go Rockets!
