True Grit, All Heart

Inspired effort leads shorthanded Rockets to 100-91 win over OKC

Jason Friedman
Rockets.com Staff Writer

Houston - Injuries. Foul trouble. Errant shots. All these and more threatened to derail Houston and send the club to its third straight defeat.

So with their backs against the wall, the Rockets responded the only way they know how: by tapping into their seemingly limitless reservoir of grit and determination, allowing them to overcome each and every obstacle along the way to posting a 100-91 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder.

“It was a big win for us,” conceded Shane Battier after the game. “We’d been struggling recently just to get off the schnide. We hadn’t lost two games in a row all year, so we wanted to get back and feel good about ourselves and that’s why this is a big win for us against a good team; an especially hot team at home.”

Making the victory even more impressive was the high degree of difficulty with which the Rockets were dealing Sunday night – some self-inflicted and some completely out of their control. The latter was a result of a frightening moment that took place on the Thunder’s opening possession when Oklahoma City’s Etan Thomas inadvertently scratched Luis Scola on his right eyelid while powering home a dunk. Scola was forced to immediately leave the court with blood dripping from the resulting cut; one which required seven stitches to close and brought a premature end to the Argentinean’s evening.

Things then went from bad to worse for Houston when Carl Landry, Scola’s substitute, came in and quickly picked up three fouls less than 9 minutes into the game. Factor in the Rockets’ ice cold touch from the field – Houston hit just 36% of its shots in the first half – and it stood as a minor miracle that the team only found itself down 54-45 by the time the hafltime break rolled around.

The third quarter brought little improvement in Houston’s shooting stroke but that merely served to give the Rockets ample opportunity to relentlessly pound the offensive glass. Houston feasted on the myriad put-backs and extra possessions earned by its hard work and hustle, as the club compiled a season-high 23 offensive boards. The end result: Houston outscored Oklahoma City 24-17 in the quarter, cutting the Thunder’s lead to two heading into the final frame.

“That is what we have to do,” said Trevor Ariza, who scored 17 points and added 4 steals. “The third quarter is when we have lost most of our games. We didn’t want to lose this one. We had to pick it up.”

By the time the fourth quarter rolled around, Houston’s offense finally caught up with its nonpareil work rate. Aaron Brooks (21 points) was especially effective, wreaking havoc with his outside shooting and unstoppable penetration. Landry, too, proved similarly confounding to Thunder defenders once he managed to stay on the floor. The forward from Purdue poured in 21 points while adding a game-high 10 rebounds (5 offensive). Together, the pair of third-year players took over the game down the stretch, silencing the crowd and ensuring the Rockets a happy flight home to Houston.

“If we ever learn to shoot, we’ll be pretty dangerous,” quipped Battier, making light of the Rockets’ recent struggles from the field. “We were struggling there to make some shots but the energy on the offensive boards kept us in the game singlehandedly. It was grit and energy. We’re not the biggest team but when we play with that energy we can survive poor shooting nights.”

The Rockets proved as much Sunday evening. Inexplicable as it may seem, this is a club which continues be at its most dangerous when the chips are down and their backs against the wall. It's not always pretty and it's rarely, if ever, easy. But there's something to be said for a team which simply refuses to lie down. Call it grit, determination, resilience or whatever you wish.

By any name, it's all heart.

AND 1s: Luis Scola’s vision was fine after the game, though he was forced to sport a bandage over his right eye. Rockets officials do not consider the injury serious and Scola will be monitored and listed as day-to-day… Aaron’s Brooks’ five steals were a new career-high… Houston’s 23 offensive rebounds stand as a new season-high for the club.

QUOTES

RICK ADLEMAN

On tonight’s win: “I thought we just stayed with it tonight. The second half was one of our better halves of the year. This was one of better wins of year. Just a great win for us tonight. We were huge on the boards tonight and the way we are shooting it we have to be able to get it back. When you shoot 40 % on the road you have to do something else to win and the rebounds were huge for us. With Scola out and Laundry in foul trouble we were searching for a rhythm in the first half. The second half we came out to cut down the lead going into the 4th quarter.”

On Defending Durant: “We were really trying to zero in on him. He is a great player. Trying to help on him as much as we could and not give him any good looks at the basket.”

On big third quarter: “The third quarter was the biggest thing for us. We cut the lead from nine to two and we talk about trying to get it down at the start of the 4th quarter. We were then able to control the 4th quarter.”

CARL LANDRY

On his team pulling down 23 offensive rebounds: “We shot 40 percent from the field today. We kept shooting shots we thought we would make but we stayed active and came up with big offensive rebounds and made some big buckets at the end of the game. Everybody was involved. Second half I thought we really got after it.”
On defense winning the game for the Rockets: “We have to play aggressive and play defense. In a couple games earlier this season we were not as aggressive as we needed to be. We just weren’t good on defense. We have to continue to play hard defense because defense wins games.”

TREVOR ARIZA

On not letting Kevin Durant get into a routine scoring the basketball: “That is what we tried to do, not make it easy for him. He still had 25 points but still, nothing was easy for him and he had to work for everything he got. We played good team defense. We wanted it and we got the win.”
On playing well in the third quarter: “That is what we have to do. That is when we have lost most of our games in the third quarter. We didn’t want to lose this one. We had to pick it up.”

AARON BROOKS

The Thunder have been playing real good basketball. To come on their home court and get a big win after losing two in a row, we responded well and it’s a great victory.
We shot the ball poorly. But we picked it up, we hit some shots and we were more aggressive to the rim.

SHANE BATTIER

It was a big win for us. We’d been struggling recently just to get off the schneid. We hadn’t lost two games in a row all year, so we wanted to get back and feel good about ourselves and that’s why this is a big win for us against a good team, an especially hot team at home.

If we ever learn to shoot, we’ll be pretty dangerous. We were struggling there to make some shots but the energy on the offensive boards kept us in the game singlehandedly. It was grit and energy. We’re not the biggest team but when we play with that energy we can survive poor shooting nights.

We kept waiting for Luis to come running around the corner. I had his back. People were like, ‘Where’s Luis?’ I’m like, ‘Oh, he’s Argentinean, he’s gonna rub some dirt on it and come back like Willis Reed. I kept looking and I was like, ‘Come back, Luis. Come back!’ He never came back (laughs).

THUNDER HEAD COACH SCOTT BROOKS:

Opening statement: “Well, it was a tough loss. We had opportunities to win an ugly game and we just had trouble getting rebounds defensively. We weren’t too bad. We just didn’t finish it up with the possession of rebounds. Twenty-three offensive rebounds—that’s going to be tough to overcome. And then we had the turnovers. Houston, give them a lot of credit. That’s how they play. They are a physical team. They’re a tough team. They really get after you and they make you make mistakes. And they’re strong, they’re physical, and they were getting their hands on a lot of balls that probably caused turnovers.”

On defensive strategy against Aaron Brooks: “Well I thought we did a decent job containing him, for the most part. He got loose in the last quarter I thought. Looking back, that’s probably one of the decisions I probably could have made. That’s a feel thing. Russell [Westbrook] is good on the ball. Brooks is as quick as anybody in this league and they set good screens for him. He was getting loose and we didn’t do a good job, all five of our guys, of conversion on the ball tonight.”

On frustration on missing three pointers: “Well, you know, we weren’t feeling it offensively. We missed a lot of threes. They were wide open threes. They were good looks, but we didn’t have it. So, human nature is when you don’t make shots you try to force things like taking it to the basket and passing the ball is very critical with how we play and tonight I wouldn’t say it was one of our worst games, but it definitely could have improved throughout the game. I thought throughout the game we let the stress of the offense get to us a little bit.”

THUNDER FORWARD KEVIN DURANT

On Houston’s rebounding: “We put ourselves in a position to win. Offensive rebounds hurt us a lot. They got a lot of opportunities to score. They got offensive rebounds just when we would play good defense and even great defense. That’s one thing we’ve got to learn; to finish out our possessions on the defensive end. We play well for 20-22 seconds and don’t get the rebound and that’s pretty heartbreaking.”

On Thunder’s 3pt shooting: “Some went in and out. I think there were good looks but you just can’t make every shot. We’ve got to continue to shoot them and be confident in them and hopefully they go down next game.”

THUNDER FORWARD JEFF GREEN

“We’re just playing hard. We play the same every night; we give it all we’ve got. Sometimes we just come up with the victory on the road. There’s no change here at home. We still have the best crowd and play hard for them and we’re playing some great teams here.”

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