The Houston Rockets finally stopped their bleeding winning against the Indiana Pacers at their home court, 115-103 on Sunday night.
Game Recap
The Houston Rockets are struggling to start the season and couldn't find their momentum but today James Harden turns MVP mode and dominated the Indiana Pacers. In the first quarter, PJ Tucker started Houston's offense with his 2 consecutive threes. The Rockets also used their defense to and scores in transition led by James Harden and Chris Paul to take a 17-8 lead early in the quarter. Indiana on the other hand, relies on their inside scoring with Thaddeus Young and Miles Turner working in the paint. Indiana came back very fast because of their defense and cuts the deficit to make it a close first quarter.
In the second period, the two teams had a showdown. They are trading baskets after baskets and James Harden started to feel it as he hits tough and well-defended three pointers. He also display his exceptional passing skills finding open team mates at the right positions. The Rockets got momentum as Harden launches a long bomb to make it a 20-point game with less than three-minutes in the second period. Chris Paul ends the first half with his sweet three pointer to make it 76-54 at the end of the half.
In the third quarter, the Pacers tried to make a little run with Darren Collison sneaking in the paint for some buckets while Oladipo is doing what he does best on the court scoring everywhere. But Harden's hot shooting prevented them to come back in the game as he continues to dominate the game with his offense.
Late in the fourth quarter, Indiana's defense gets tougher as they forced some turnovers and converted it to points but it's James's Harden's night! He's just damn so good that the Pacers couldn't do anything about it because whatever shot he takes, it's just going in every time. He's just in the zone and it's hard to cool him up. The Rockets took the win and improved to 5-7.
Thoughts
Carmelo Anthony did not play tonight because of some issues with the team and there are rumors that Melo's time in Houston is already over and the team might not need him anymore because it didn't worked out well for them. I don't understand this situation. It's very early to say that it didn't worked out. They only played 12 games and I think the chemistry is just starting to improve. They didn't give him a decent chance to prove himself and already calling it done? Man, I think it's not fair. I hope it's not true and if this is true I hope he can find a new home where he is welcome and well-appreciated.
Domantas Sabonis is playing well with the Indiana Pacers and he is improving tremendously. He could be their starting center and has a potential to be better than Myles Turner. The Pacers did a great job acquiring him.
Stats
James Harden - 40 pts, 7 reb, 9 ast, 1 stl, 1 blk
Chris paul - 26 pts, 5 reb, 5 ast, 3 stl
Clint Capela - 18 pts, 7 reb, 1 ast, 1 blk
Victor Oladipo - 22 pts, 10 reb, 7 ast, 2 stl
Bojan Bogdanovic - 20 pts, 6 reb, 6 ast, 3 stl
Darren Collison - 13 pts, 3 reb, 3 ast, 1 blk
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