PrintRockets Catch Fire, Romp Past Bucks
Houston shoots lights-out from beyond the arc to blitz Bucks 127-99
Jason Friedman
Rockets.com Staff Writer
Houston - It’s often a special night when an NBA player finds himself in “the zone.” But when an entire team enters that sacred place, the results can be downright magical.
The Rockets experienced just such an ethereal evening Wednesday night, burying the Milwaukee Bucks beneath a barrage of third quarter 3-pointers on their way to cruising to a 127-99 victory. The win not only snapped Houston’s 3-game losing streak, it also delivered a much-needed boost to the team’s offensive confidence.
“It was a great shooting night for all of us – it was about time,” said Shane Battier, who set a Rockets record for most made 3s (6) without a miss in one game. “We’ve been waiting for a game like this and, hopefully, this is the start of some hot shooting and good basketball.
“Sometimes there’s no rhyme or reason. Some nights you just have it. The ball movement was great tonight; people were involved and when you’re involved and you get shots in rhythm they go down a lot easier.”
That certainly was the case for the Rockets during the jaw-dropping shooting display they put forth during the second and third quarters. For those 24 memorable minutes, Houston could do no wrong. Everything worked. Everything clicked. And every shot seemingly found the bottom of the net.
The run began after a sluggish first quarter which actually saw the Rockets struggle on the offensive end. Houston hit just 38 percent of its shots while succumbing to some of the same difficulties that had plagued the club in recent weeks. But the moment the second period began, the Rockets seemed to lock-in and the basket on their end appeared to double in size. With Carl Landry and Chase Budinger leading the way, Houston shot a sizzling 80 percent from the field in the frame, while posting 37 points in the period – good enough to take a 5-point lead into halftime.
Little did the Bucks know, however, that Houston’s players were only just getting warmed up. For if the Rockets seemed to be simmering in the second quarter, they positively boiled over in the third. Houston drained eight 3-pointers in the period and knocked down 7-of-8 from beyond the arc during one mindboggling 5-minute stretch in which one halfway expected to see flames and vapor trails emanating from the ball as it left the hands of the Rockets’ red-hot marksmen.
When the carnage from the third quarter was cleared, Houston owned a 34-point lead after having outscored Milwaukee 43-14 in the frame. The eye-popping period also put the Rockets well on their way to establishing season-highs in total points scored, shooting percentage (.583) and 3-pointers made (16) – all this against a Bucks team which entered the game ranked in the NBA’s top-10 in defensive efficiency.
“I thought the difference tonight was that we made the extra pass,” said Rockets Head Coach Rick Adelman. “We talked about their team. They’re very good about stepping in on you in the paint, they take charges, they’re always coming in. We said that if the outside people are open, you have to penetrate with the idea of kicking and Aaron Brooks (12 assists) did a great job in the third quarter. He was just finding people. Of course, we have to make it too. But with wide open shots like that, once you get going it can be contagious like it was for us tonight.”
The key for the Rockets now, of course, is finding a way to build on the positive momentum gained from this win. Not every night will bear witness to the scorching shooting on display Wednesday night but improved ball movement, spacing and decision-making can only yield better results going forward for a team which still finds itself right in the thick of the Western Conference playoff race
“We needed the win a lot, no question about it,” said Luis Scola. “For everybody, individually and as a team, it was a game where everything you do works. Everybody played hard and everybody was focused. But we don’t want to go back and lose again. We need to keep going, we have to back it up by coming home and playing hard and doing the same thing. We need to make it like a stretch, not just one good game.”
QUOTES
Rick Adelman
(On the game…)
“It was a great game. We came out at the second half, had talked about the game last night where we were up and really faltered in the second half, and just shot the lights out in the third quarter. Shane (Battier) and Trevor (Ariza) were just on fire. It was a well-needed win for us. We really needed it because we’ve been so up and down. But now, are we going to back it up when we go back home against Indiana? We need to have it carry over. We need to get a little streak of our own going.”
(On the third quarter offense…)
“I thought the difference tonight was that we made the extra pass. We talked about their team. They’re very good about stepping in on you in the paint, they take charges, they’re always coming in. We said that if the outside people are open, you have to penetrate with the idea of kicking and Aaron (Brooks) did a great job in the third quarter. He was just finding people. Of course, we have to make it too. But with wide open shots like that, once you get going it’s like it was contagious for us tonight.”
(On the bench performances…)
“Our guys off the bench were terrific in the second quarter. They just came in and pretty much dominated the play. Then our starters really picked it up in the third quarter. We haven’t had it work like that lately.”
Luis Scola
(On the importance of the win …)
“We needed the win a lot, no question about it. For everybody, individually and as a team, it was a game where everything you do works. Everybody played hard and everybody was focused. But we don’t want to go back and lose again. We need to keep going, we have to back it up by coming home and playing hard and doing the same thing. We need to make it like a stretch, not just one good game.”
(On the third quarter run…)
“We were really focused and everything was working. There’s nothing you can really do to do that, it just happens once in a while. We were playing good in the first half, so we just tried to stay focused, play hard, be ready. Nothing special. Everything was working.”
Aaron Brooks
(On the win after recent struggles…)
“You can get on a roll either way. We just have seemed to be on a roll the other way lately. It felt good. We haven’t had a feel-good win in a while. We shot the ball really, really well. We capitalized when they left us open and we haven’t been doing that lately. Defensively, I think we did a great job in the second half of really sticking it to them.”
(On the 43-14 run in the third quarter…)
“Everybody got hot. Everybody was taking shots. Shane and Trevor led the charge. We followed their lead, offensively and defensively. We really moved the ball. We really did a good job on (Brandon) Jennings in that third quarter and made them an outside-shooting team, just with hands in their faces.”
Shane Battier
It was a great shooting night for all of us – it was about time. We’ve been waiting for a game like this and, hopefully, this is the start of some hot shooting and good basketball.
Sometimes there’s no rhyme or reason. Some nights you just have it. The ball movement was great tonight; people were involved and when you’re involved and you get shots in rhythm they go down a lot easier.
Bucks Head Coach Scott Skiles
(On tonight’s game…)
“Brandon (Jennings) got us off to a little bit of an offensive start by making some shots, but we were pretty flat footed. They missed some shots early in the game, but not because we had a lot to do with it. They played last night, and once they kind of got their legs and settled down a little bit we continued to be flat footed and they just started drilling shots on us; we didn’t have much of a response.”
(On Houston’s three-point shooting…)
“All of that was developing from shortly after the jump ball. They kind of went wherever they wanted to go. They just missed some shots early. As I said, we were kind of flat footed most of the night and if that’s the issue, it’s hard to all of a sudden flip a switch and all of a sudden you’re getting out on shooters and everything else. The only thing I can come up with is we were flat footed, we just weren’t in to it.”
(On the first game after the All-Star break…)
“Disappointed for sure. As difficult as it is to play in that type of game, it’s just as difficult to sit there and try to coach it and watch it. The guys didn’t intend to come out with no energy and flat footed or anything like that, it just happened. I got up and I tried to get a technical (foul), I tried to get some sort of life going and everything we tried just backfired. We have to try to move on from it and hope it doesn’t linger.”
Center Andrew Bogut
(On tonight’s game…)
“We just didn’t play well. We stuck with them in every category except field goal percentage. I think we were out-rebounding them in the first half, had more blocked shots and more steals. But they shoot fifty percent in the first half and sixty percent for the game and they bombarded us with three’s in the third quarter and blew the game wide open.”
Forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute
(On tonight’s game…)
“It’s obviously not good. We’re not scoring and they are just making threes. We didn’t keep our composure. They kept making shots. Sometimes there’s nights like that where the other team comes in and shoots well. We started the game really good, but in the third quarter they just made shots and took over the game.”
(On winning at the Bradley Center…)
“It’s very important to win at home, not just for the playoffs but for ourselves. We have to protect our home court advantage and we feel like we play well at home. We let two games slip away and now we have to bounce back.”
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