Rockets Cruise Past Warriors

Balanced attack helps Houston thump Golden State 119-97

Jason Friedman
Rockets.com Staff Writer

Houston - After more than a month’s worth of dogfights, nailbiters and hotly-contested games, the Rockets found themselves desperately craving a blowout win. Good thing Golden State was in the mood to oblige.

Slicing and dicing the Warriors’ feeble attempts at defense right from the opening tip, Houston rang up 39 first quarter points en route to recording a comfortable and mostly care-free 119-97 victory.

The Rockets’ triumph not only continued their streak of home wins in February – which now stands at 17 straight – it also brought to an end a streak of a completely different kind; one which had seen the club play 16 games in a row decided by 10 points or fewer. Needless to say, Houston's players and coaches more than welcomed the opportunity to kick back and relax during the final few minutes of the fourth quarter.

“I don’t remember the last time I sat on the bench at the end of the game,” said Aaron Brooks who, along with Carl Landry, led the Rockets in scoring with 24 points. “It felt good to be able to just sit there and relax and watch Joey (Dorsey) run up and down the court. It felt like we haven’t had that since Yao was here, so it felt good to laugh and have fun.”

Houston earned the R&R time by thoroughly dominating the wounded Warriors (Golden State was without the services of Corey Maggette and Anthony Randolph, among others) at both ends of the court. Trevor Ariza set the tone early, scoring 14 first quarter points as the Rockets built a whopping 21-point lead in the opening stanza. Houston shredded the Warriors’ defense with ease, repeatedly burning Golden State with back-door cuts and straightforward pick-and-rolls which led to a succession of layups and free throws.

Perhaps the first quarter was too easy, however, because the Rockets seemed to let their foot off the gas pedal in the second period, falling victim to a slew of turnovers and missed shots. Making matters worse, those miscues just so happened to coincide with Monta Ellis turning into a human fireball, as the Golden State guard drained jumper after jumper on his way to tallying 27 points by halftime.

But Ellis’ final bucket of the quarter seemed to serve as an alarm clock of sorts for Houston. Stirred from their slumber after watching their lead dwindle to 1, the Rockets rallied to score the final 9 points of the half, allowing them to head into the break with a much more comfortable 59-49 lead.

“I thought the biggest part of the game was the last two minutes of the second quarter,” said Rockets’ Head Coach Rick Adelman after the game. “I just felt that if we defended them, we’d have a spurt and break it open.”

That’s exactly what Houston did. With Chuck Hayes (7 points, 13 rebounds and an astronomical plus/minus of +33) anchoring the defensive end, the Rockets showed renewed intensity and quickly put plenty of distance between themselves and the Warriors once again. Ellis scored just 7 points the rest of the way and Houston absolutely hammered Golden State on the glass, outrebounding them 57-35.

The end result: a stress-free fourth quarter - a first for the Rockets in 2010.

“This was the first time in a while that we've been smiling and having fun on the court and that's what we want to get back to,” said Shane Battier, who finished with 12 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists. “When we are loose and playing hard and having fun, that's when we are at our best and it's been awhile since we've seen those smiles tonight.”

Added Brooks: “It's a big win, big win. We are getting ready to go on the road. We wanted some good feelings to go on the road and everybody is upbeat and ready to go. We got a team that's playing good basketball in Memphis. We have to be ready - ready to roll. To finally get a win that is over 10 (points), it feels kind of good.”

QUOTES

RICK ADELMAN

I’m pleased with the win. That’s a hard team to play against. They can score a lot of points. Just a really solid start to the third quarter.

(difference between third and second quarter): We defended. I thought we defended them a lot better. We were able to use a rope-a-dope on Ellis; he got so tired he didn’t want to shoot anymore, so that worked. The way he was scoring in the second quarter, I mean they only had 24 points but it felt like they had 40. I thought it was too easy for us early in the game. We were making a lot of shots and scoring pretty easy. Then we turned it over 8 times in the second quarter. So then you had the combination of (Ellis) getting hot and them getting into the open court.

I thought the biggest part of the game was the last two minutes of the second quarter when we went from 1-up to 10-up going into halftime. Chuck was terrific anchoring our defense. We talked about winning the third quarter and defending them and we were able to do that. I just felt that if we defended them, we’d have a spurt and break it open.

(rebounding advantage): We felt that was something we could do at both ends of the court. We had hurt them on the boards the first two games there. We wanted to make them a jump-shooting team, even though Ellis was making a lot of them, we didn’t want them to get in the open court and we didn’t want to let them get to the basket. If we did that, we knew they were not a great offensive rebounding team and we should control it and that’s what we wanted to do.

I think when you’re playing a team like this your concentration has to be consistent. There were about 3 or 4 times where we tried to go for steals in the backcourt on them and that opens it up for their transition game. You can’t do that. I thought there were times when we had a 16 point lead in the third quarter and we had 7 chances to break it open and we were impatient. That’s what this team has to learn: you have to put the hammer on people and you do that by executing. You keep playing the game, don’t play the score. Play the game and play it smart.

TREVOR ARIZA

(On the win) “It feels good to finally get a win that is a convincing win. We played together for the most part and we built a big lead in the first quarter.”

(On his play) “I made all my free throws so I was happy about that and I was just attacking the basket, trying to get it going early, and I was successful in doing that.”

(defending the Warriors): That’s the plan, you try to take them out of their element and put them into a place where they’re not too comfortable. Somebody got it going but I’d rather someone score 30 or 40 and get a win, than everybody scoring and then they win.

AARON BROOKS

I think we’d had 16 straight games that were decided by 10 or less points so to break that streak is good. I don’t remember the last time I sat on the bench at the end of the game. It felt good to be able to just sit there and relax and watch Joey run up and down the court. We haven’t had that since probably when Yao was here, so it felt good to laugh and have fun.

(On controlling the tempo of the game) “It was important to get off to a great start and we did that. We knew that they were going to go on a run, they are a good team. Monta (Ellis) was doing really good, pretty much holding up the team in that second quarter. I think the good job is that we did a good job adjusting. I think he got a little bit tired in a way but we did make adjustments, got more bodies loaded to him. We tried to make the rest of the team beat us and not just him.”

(On the importance of the win) “It's a big win, big win. We are getting ready to go on the road. We wanted some good feelings to go on the road and everybody is upbeat and ready to go. We got a team that's playing good basketball in Memphis. We have to be ready - ready to roll. To finally get a win that is over 10 (points), it feels kind of good.”

SHANE BATTIER

It’s been a long time since we’ve been able to laugh and have fun and just play loose on the basketball court. It was a nice win. They have a bunch of explosive scorers so I’m glad we took care of business and were able to relax in the fourth.

We did a great job of moving the basketball and took advantage of their switching defense which is something we’ve had trouble with the last couple games. We had some great backdoor cuts and some movement which is why we had a big offensive night.

Everyone needs (a game like this) every now and then. It was a fun game to play in for us.

(On the win) “This was the first time in a while that we've been smiling and having fun on the court and that's what we want to get back to. When we are loose and playing hard and having fun, that's when we are at our best and it's been awhile since we've seen those smiles tonight. It was a good win. They (Warriors) are a tough team to play. They can score in bunches and they have an explosive scorer in (Monta) Ellis and he had a pretty big night but I am proud of the way we came out and took control in the second half.”

(On Monta Ellis) “Sixth in the league in scoring and he is just so quick. When you are playing him, you have to make him shoot jumpers and hopefully he misses. He hit a lot of jump shots tonight, to his credit, but still did a great job of getting to the rack. With him, you just have to wear him down and we were able to slow him down and keep him in front of us a little better in the second half. He is an explosive scorer and it looked like he was going to have a big night and he did.”

LUIS SCOLA

(On the win) “We played better. We took care of business from the first minute. We put forty-eight minutes of a game together. It makes us feel good. We need these type of wins. Now we are going to Memphis, a pretty tough place to play. They have been winning a lot of games there but that will be a very big win for us if we can make it.”

(On the play of Monta Ellis) “He was playing great. He's just a great player but we know that he is capable of scoring and that he is going to get his. We just needed to take care of the other ones and them as a team. Even though he was scoring a lot, we were able to get ahead and score and everything was easy after that.”

CARL LANDRY

(On the win) “There's a little bit of a sigh of relief but at the same time, we still have a lot of work to do. It feels good to win.”

(On his offensive game) “Most of the time they (Warriors) didn't double team me tonight. Only a few times they came down and double team me. I did a good job of passing the ball out and finding my teammates. We kept our foot on the pedal tonight. They made runs and we made runs but at the end of the day we came out with the win.”

COACH DON NELSON

(on the game) “We just weren’t very good. Our D-leaguers looked like D-leaguers. Our rookie (Curry) didn’t have a very good game. Monta had a very good game but he just didn’t have any help.”

(on how he was feeling) “My job is to be here if I possibly can and I was able to go but I am hurting right now.”

(on Monta Ellis’ play) “I really didn’t know if he was going to be able to shoot the ball. I was going to play him until we either won or lost and then I took him out when the game was over.”

(on Radmanovic’s status) “It’s time for us to think about shutting him down until he’s 100% and says he is ready to go.”

MONTA ELLIS

(on his play) “It was one of those games. I was shooting and it was going in. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the win. I really didn’t know what to expect coming out, but as my wrists got loose, it felt pretty good.”

(on the game) “In the second quarter we played pretty good defense and got back into the game but our offense didn’t come through in the second half. It was just a bad shooting game.”

(on his thoughts on possibly be selected to the All Star team) “Whatever happens, happens. It is out of my control.”

STEPHEN CURRY

(on the game) “By the time Monta (Ellis) got going, we were already down twenty. We couldn’t find it offensively and for us to be competitive we have to be able to make plays and we didn’t. We just didn’t come ready to play.”

(on defending Brooks) “He uses his speed so well. Speed kills. He is a very tough guy to stop. He got Houston rolling and we couldn’t come back.

(on Monta Ellis’ play) “Monta stepped up to the plate when our whole offense was stagnant. He really got us going in the second quarter.”

NOTES

Houston registered a 119-97 win tonight over Golden State, sweeping this season’s three-game series. The Rockets now hold a nine-game winning streak over the Warriors (1/29/08-2/2/10).

The Rockets currently hold a 17-game home winning streak during the month of Feb. (8-0 in 2008, 8-0 in 2009 and 1-0 in 2010).

Houston’s 22-point victory tonight marked its second win this season by 20 or more points. The Rockets rolled to a 104-79 (+25) win vs. Memphis (11/11/09), marking their largest margin of victory this season.

The Rockets never trailed in tonight’s game and built their lead to as high as 28 points. It marked the first wire-to-wire win for Houston since a 110-93 victory vs. the L.A Clippers (3/28/09).

Houston recorded a 57-35 (+22) advantage off the glass tonight, giving the Rockets five 50-rebound games on the season. The Rockets also took the battle in the paint by a 56-38 (+18) count, marking the 13th time this season Houston has reached 50 points in the paint.

The Rockets recorded a season-high 39 first-quarter points tonight, surpassing a 37-point opening quarter at Dallas (11/10/09).

Aaron Brooks finished with 24 points (10-20 FG, 2-6 3FG), a season-high eight rebounds and six assists tonight. Brooks has now scored at least 20 points in six of his last seven games, including a current streak of four in a row. Brooks marked the first time in his career to register four straight 20-point games earlier this season: 20 at Toronto (12/13/09), 23 vs. Detroit (12/15/09), 23 at Denver (12/16/09) and 25 at Dallas (12/18/09).

Carl Landry posted 24 points (6-9 FG, 12-13 FT) and five rebounds, including 12 points (5-5 FG, 2-2 FT) in the fourth quarter. Landry has now totaled 18 20-point outings on the season.

Trevor Ariza, who recorded 21 points (4-10 3FG) vs. Phoenix (1/31/10), had 18 points (6-16 FG, 5-5 FT), five rebounds and two assists tonight.

Chase Budinger recorded all of his points in the fourth quarter, notching 14 points (5-5 FG, 2-2 3FG, 2-2 FT) in 9:18 of action in that quarter.

Chuck Hayes totaled seven points (3-4 FG), 13 boards (12 defensive) and three assists tonight. Hayes marked his sixth double-figure rebounding game of the season.

Luis Scola recorded 10 points (4-13 FG), eight rebounds and a career-high-tying two blocked shots tonight.

Monta Ellis recorded 34 points (13-22 FG, 2-6 3FG), two assists, two steals and two blocks tonight, including 27 points (10-17 FG, 2-4 3FG, 5-7 FT) in the first half alone. His 27 points over the opening two quarters stands as the second-highest half against the Rockets this season (David West 30 in second half on 12/29/09 vs. New Orleans).

Coby Karl had a career night with 12 points (5-13 FG), seven rebounds and a game-high seven assists.

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