Rockets Proving Plenty Dangerous Without Dwight Howard and Tuesday NBA Takeaways
Prior to Tuesday's showdown with the Phoenix Suns, the Houston Rockets insisted that they'll be fine without Dwight Howard, whose knee problems could keep him out through March.
"We try to find a way with whoever is out there," Patrick Beverley told the Houston Chronicle's Jenny Dial Creech. "We put together a solid team, we have a really good bench. If one man is hurt, the next guy steps up. I think that has been our thing all year. It’s not about finding the rhythm or anything like that, it’s about whoever it out, next man up."
Added James Harden:
"Obviously Dwight brings so much to this team and you can’t just replace him, but we are going to play the same way we always do. We play the same way with Dwight, without Dwight. With me, without me. We have a system and whoever is in that lineup, they know their role and have to play to the best of their abilities.
"
Harden certainly played to the best of his in the Valley of the Sun. The All-Star swingman scored 40 points—20 in the fourth quarter alone—to go along with 12 rebounds and nine assists in leading the Rockets to a 127-118 road win over the Suns.
To be sure, Harden had plenty of help from a supporting cast that seems to be building confidence game by game, with Josh Smith and Corey Brewer settling into their respective roles. Smith chipped in 20 points off the bench—his best output in over a month. When Harden went down with an apparent elbow injury in the third quarter, Smith came through with a huge three to tie the score at 83 apiece.
And once Harden returned, Smith played the part of Johnny-on-the-spot, flushing it home following some fancy ball-handling from The Beard, to give the Rockets their first lead in seven minutes of game time.
The fact that Houston was down at all, much less for that long, would've seemed preposterous early on.
The Rockets scored 41 points in the opening frame—their season high for a quarter—and started the second with an 18-point lead. The visitors appeared to have the game in hand, thanks to the sort of all-court hustle that helped Houston pile up 11 second-chance points and 13 points off eight Phoenix turnovers in the first 12 minutes.
The Suns bounced back in a big way thereafter. Markieff Morris scored half of his 16 points in the second quarter, on a slew of impressive slams.
Phoenix kept the good times rolling in the third, by way of a 20-3 run, fueled by eight of Eric Bledsoe's team-high 32 points. The Rockets responded with a 10-2 run of their own and blitzed the Suns to start the fourth. Brewer did his part, pouring in nine of his 14 points amid Harden's onslaught.
But, of course, Harden's exploits overshadowed those of his teammates, even though five of them joined him in double figures.
Frankly, Harden's done the same to the rest of the NBA all season. He came into Tuesday's action leading the league in scoring (27.5 points) and free-throw attempts (9.3 per game), while also ranking among the top 12 in assists (6.8), steals (1.96) and minutes (36.5).
This, after exploding for 45 points, nine rebounds and eight assists in a 109-98 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday. Harden's big night Tuesday made him just the second player this season to post 40 points or more in back-to-back games. The other? Former OKC teammate Russell Westbrook, per NBA on ESPN:
Both of those games make Harden's 33 points and five assists in a win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday look like peanuts by comparison.
More importantly, Harden's latest MVP-caliber performance moved Houston to 14-6 this season, sans Howard, who may or may not have mesmerized the Suns with his curious sartorial choices, as shared by Bleacher Report:
Indeed, Harden belongs not just in the MVP race but at the head of it. He's carried Houston to a 36-16 record—third-best in the rough-and-tumble Western Conference—amid an endless sea of injuries, from Howard's current setback to those suffered earlier by Beverley and Terrence Jones.
"LeBron and KD are at the peak right now," Harden told Bleacher Report's Chris Palmer. "They are the guys. I know what I want, but I have to win over a lot of people. I've got my work cut out for me."
But if Harden keeps up that stellar work, especially while Howard's knee heals, he'll belong with the league's last two MVPs—and have the hardware to prove it.
Around the Association
Moose Breaks Loose to Help Pistons Close Playoff Gap
Someone is going to pay Greg Monroe a ton of money this summer to play basketball for the next four to five years. Fortunately for the Detroit Pistons, they won't have to worry about that until July.
The man they call "Moose" piled up 23 points, 12 rebounds and one thrilling end-of-quarter buzzer-beater in the Detroit Pistons' 106-78 blowout win over the Hornets in Charlotte.
Performances of this caliber are nothing new for Monroe. As the Pistons themselves pointed out, the Georgetown product has paced the East in big-man production over the past three-and-a-half seasons:
Detroit will need as many of these performances as it can squeeze out of Monroe, who will be an unrestricted free agent once the 2014-15 campaign comes to a close.
Tuesday's victory over Michael Jordan's club pulled the Pistons within a game-and-a-half of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference—and moved Moose that much closer to the sort of payday that might make his decision to sign a qualifying offer last offseason look like a stroke of genius.
Snell Saves the Day for Chicago
Shoulder injuries seem to be all the rage for All-Stars these days. First, it was Anthony Davis spraining his right shoulder against Chicago on Saturday.
Now, the Bulls have a bad right shoulder of their own to worry about. Jimmy Butler bowed out during the first half of Chicago's game against the Sacramento Kings after tweaking a shoulder strain he originally suffered opposite the Orlando Magic on Sunday.
"I don't know what happened but I'm fine," Butler said after pouring in 27 points against Orlando, per ESPN.com's Nick Friedell. "Went back there, put some heat on it, did some tricky stuff, some witchcraft, and they got me back to the floor."
The Bulls didn't have such luck on this night. Butler didn't return after notching just five points on 2-of-8 shooting in 22 minutes prior to halftime. According to the Chicago Tribune's K.C. Johnson, the Bulls will take a closer look at Butler's shoulder on Wednesday:
Or, maybe they just transferred Butler's mojo to Tony Snell. The second-year swingman out of New Mexico scored a career-high 24 points on 9-of-11 shooting in 41 minutes to boost the Bulls to a 104-86 win over the visiting Kings at the United Center.
If Butler has to miss any time, Chicago will need all it can get out of Snell on Thursday, when the red-hot Cleveland Cavaliers come to town.
Grizzlies Give Hollins a Not-So-Warm Welcome
The Memphis Grizzlies did plenty to praise Lionel Hollins, their old head coach, prior to his first game back in Tennessee since the franchise canned him in the summer of 2013. Hollins' former players said all the right things, per WREG in Memphis.
The organization even went so far as to welcome back Hollins with a tribute video of its own and good on them for it. Hollins guided the Grizzlies through Memphis' post-Pau Gasol rebuild and held on long enough to oversee its first playoff win, its first series victory and its first trip to the Western Conference Finals.
Once the ball was tossed up for the opening tip between the Grizzlies and Hollins' Brooklyn Nets, the home squad summarily stomped that nostalgia. Memphis led by as many as 19 points in the first quarter and expanded its advantage to 22 in the third on the way to a 95-86 win. Six Grizzlies scored in double figures, paced by Zach Randolph's 19 points, eight boards and three steals.
Z-Bo held a similar distinction when the Grizzlies and Nets last met, boosting Memphis to a mid-January win in Brooklyn with 20 points and 14 rebounds.
Ty Lawson Takes Over in L.A.
The Los Angeles Lakers looked like they might end their four-game slide with a win over the similarly dysfunctional Denver Nuggets before flying up to Portland on Wednesday.
Then...well, Ty Lawson happened.
The North Carolina product logged 28 of his 32 points and 10 of his 16 assists in the second half to propel his Nuggets to a 106-96 win over the Lakers at Staples Center on Tuesday.
The Lakers did what they could to keep things close down the stretch. But L.A.'s ragtag bunch was no match for Lawson, who scored all but two of Denver's final 17 points of the game.
Quotes of the Night
Not everyone was happy to hear that Kyle Korver will be replacing the injured Dwyane Wade on the Eastern Conference All-Star squad. John Henson, for one, would prefer to see Brandon Knight, his Milwaukee Bucks teammate, suiting up at Madison Square Garden on Sunday:
Don't get it twisted, though; Henson respects what Korver's Atlanta Hawks have done this season and doesn't mind the sentiment underlying commissioner Adam Silver's selection:
Later on, Nick Young, an All-Star in the hearts and minds of those who love oddballs, told the L.A. media why he's afraid of dolphins:
Too much swag for sea mammals, apparently.
Josh Martin covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter.
