Houston Rockets' big gamble on 'small ball' is paying off so far
Rockets beat the Celtics in OT with 6-foot-7 Robert Covington its tallest starter.
Sunday 1 March 2020 11:26, UK
Not many teams have ever had the luxury of fielding two former MVPs in their primes. The Houston Rockets are one of them, making that point emphatically clear on Saturday in an overtime win against the Boston Celtics.
With 2018 NBA MVP James Harden reduced to a bad shooting performance by the Celtics' defence, enter Russell Westbrook.
The 2017 MVP took over with a 41 point, eight-rebound performance while Harden had 21 points, including a pair of free throws with 25 seconds left in overtime, to give Houston a 111-110 victory on Saturday night.
"You can't go to the supermarket and buy heart," Rockets coach Mike D'Antoni said of Westbrook after the game. "You know he has that. It's pretty impressive."
Westbrook's emergence as an equal counter-measure to Harden, means neither player can be double-teamed, and is serving notice that so-called "small ball" is working.
Houston has gone on a 10-2 streak without former center Clint Capella, who was traded on February 6, but was inactive with an injury since January 31. The Rockets received 6-foot-7 forward Robert Covington in return, who is often their tallest player on the court.
On Saturday, the Boston Celtics managed to shut down Harden - currently the NBA's leading scorer - for most of the second half and overtime.
"We had a lot of attention on James Harden." Celtics guard Jaylen Brown said. "And we forgot about the other MVP over there."
Boston rallied from a four-point deficit in the final 20 seconds of regulation and sent the game to overtime on Brown's three-pointer at the buzzer after an intentionally missed free throw.
The Celtics scored the first basket of the extra period and led 110-109 but did not score in the final 2:49 of the game, missing their last six shots.
Harden, who averages almost 35 points, was held to nine points on 3-for-12 shooting over the final 29 minutes, going scoreless for all of the fourth quarter. Westbrook also had five assists, scoring 18 in the second half and three more in overtime.
"This is his first year as a Rocket. It's going to take some time and he's finally there," Harden said. "You can have the confidence but not the ability. But he has both and that's what makes him so special."
Covington added 16 points and 16 rebounds for the Rockets, who have won six straight while beating Boston five times in a row.
Jayson Tatum had 32 points and 13 rebounds, Marcus Smart scored 26 points and Brown had 22 for the Celtics. Daniel Theis had 15 rebounds for Boston, the last in the final seconds of overtime to set up a short baseline jumper that was released after the buzzer before harmlessly swishing through the net.
The Celtics had won 14 of their previous 17 games and could have moved into a tie with Toronto atop the Atlantic Division with a win.
"I thought the right team won," Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. "I thought they were better than us - not by much, but at least by one."
Boston led by as many as 17 in the first half, but the Rockets scored 13 straight points near the beginning of the second to take their first lead of the game 66-64. Boston missed nine straight shots into the fourth quarter and still trailed 102-98 after Westbrook hit one of two free throws with 19 seconds left.
Smart leaned in for a 3-pointer to make it a one-point game, but Westbrook got away on the fast break and Theis reached out to grab him; they had to go to a replay to determine that it wasn't a clear path foul. The Houston guard hit both free throws to make it 104-101 with 8.1 seconds left in regulation.
The Rockets sent Tatum to the line, where he missed the first free throw. He intentionally banged the second off the front of the rim, Smart deflected the ball and Brown grabbed it at the top of the key before hitting the tying 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the game to overtime, tied 104-all.
"It's something we practice, if we need to miss a free throw, try to make a play," Tatum said. "JB was in the right spot at the right time and he knocked down a big shot to give us a chance."
Rockets: Westbrook scored at least 20 points for the 30th straight game, joining Harden, who had a 34-game streak of 20+ points this season. According to ESPN, they are the first teammates to have 20-points in 30 or more games in a row since Jerry West and Elgin Baylor in 1961-62.
