Pacers Rout Rockets 119-104

Granger scores 22 to pace Indy in blowout

Jason Friedman
Rockets.com Staff Writer

Houston - Maybe it was the result of playing the second end of a back-to-back. Perhaps it had to do with the fact Houston's best defenders played sparingly or not at all. Whatever the case, the Rockets' defense was largely non-existent Friday night and the end result was a whipping at the hands of the Indiana Pacers 119-104.

Danny Granger led a Pacers' attack which seemingly scored at will right from the opening tip, as Indiana raced to a big early lead and never looked back. The fifth-year forward from New Mexico scored a game-high 22 points in little more than 17 minutes of action, though he certainly had plenty of help on the offensive side of the ball. Among the Pacer superlatives: Six Indiana players tallied double digits in scoring on the evening, the Pacers shot a scorching 12-23 (.522) from downtown and Indy posted a 71-point first half, placing the Rockets in a deep hole from which they never could recover.

"It’s the third game in a row we’ve allowed 60 points in the first half which is not a recipe for success in this league," lamented Shane Battier. "We have to find ways to slow teams down. We’re trying to play faster, so there’s going to be more possessions. But we have to find ways to keep the defensive principles that have made us successful the last few years.”

Certainly, some of Houston's struggles on the defensive end could be traced back to the fact that stalwarts such as Battier and Trevor Ariza saw limited minutes, while Chuck Hayes was given the entire night off since Rockets' head coach Rick Adelman wanted to rest his vets while getting a closer look at some of the other players on his roster. Still, that does little to excuse the myriad uncontested shots Indiana was allowed and it's something which simply must be shored up with the Rockets' regular season opener rapidly approaching.

"It's very much a concern," Adelman said of his team's defense. "We were being beat off the dribble. They were getting straight to the basket. We’re going to have to talk about it.  One of the problems is playing the different combinations. We’re making calls too late and we can’t win if we do that.  Like I said before, the combinations have broken us down some but we need to get it together before next week."

The good news: Will Conroy did his best to help the Rockets save face in the fourth quarter, making the most of his minutes by stuffing the stat sheet with 14 points, 9 assists and 5 rebounds. Pops Mensah-Bonsu also produced for the second straight game, grabbing 9 rebounds to go with 4 blocked shots.

The best news of all, however, is that the Rockets now head home for the next ten days which should give them ample time to rest up, prepare and ready themselves for the season to come. They'll host their final two preseason games next week, beginning with Monday night's match-up against Oklahoma City before Dallas pays Toyota Center a visit on Friday.

Got a question for Rockets.com? Send it to Jason Friedman. And for up to the second news and injury updates follow the Rockets and Jason on Twitter.