A pair of early-season Southwest Division grudge matches between New Orleans and Houston have come down to the wire, featuring intensity and the kind of physical defense that’s not part of many NBA games in free-flowing 2023-24. Unfortunately for the Pelicans, the outcome of both was a near carbon copy – the Rockets made all of the biggest plays in the final minutes, securing a narrow victory. After Houston posted a 104-101 head-to-head triumph on Nov. 10 in Texas, the Rockets prevailed Saturday in virtually the exact same fashion in Louisiana. The visitors held the Pelicans to only four points in the final 3:54, turning a three-point deficit into a two-point win.
THREE POINTS
Houston’s preferred style returns.
The Rockets entered Saturday at No. 28 in the NBA in pace, while the Pelicans were 11th, signifying Houston’s preference to try to draw NOLA into a methodical, deliberate kind of game. The guests were very successful in doing so, creating a second straight low-scoring, slug-it-out meeting with their division counterparts. Most evident of that statistically was the Pelicans being held to zero fast-break points. The hosts did not even attempt a transition shot (the Rockets were 3/8 and tallied 11 fast-break points).
Layup machine.
Zion Williamson’s drives into the paint were an offensive bright spot on a night when there weren’t many of those. After being a DNP for Thursday’s game at Cleveland due to illness, Williamson returned to the tune of 28 points on 11/16 shooting from the field. He generated his usual blend of unconventional high releases for layups off the glass, spinning around Houston’s interior defense to get to the rim. However, Houston held all of NOLA’s other top six players to sub-50 percent shooting, other than Brandon Ingram, who was exactly even at 6/12.
Clutch-time repeat.
New Orleans has the NBA’s third-lowest clutch offensive efficiency (91.8 points per 100 possessions, via NBA.com, ahead of only Washington and Detroit), something third-year head coach Willie Green referenced in postgame Saturday. The Pelicans came up empty on a series of possessions against the Rockets where they looked indecisive, resulting in stalled movement and being up against the shot clock. Down four in the final minute and needing to score quickly, New Orleans couldn’t get a hoop prior to the game clock dipping to 24, meaning it would need to scramble and foul Houston. Instead, the Rockets tossed a deep pass ahead to Alperen Sengun, whose dunk gave him a game-best 37-point night.
BY THE NUMBERS
6/29: Combined three-point shooting by the two teams in the first half.
11/31: Combined three-point shooting by the two teams in the second half. A bad night from the perimeter resulted in Houston at 31 percent from deep and NOLA at just 26.
16: New Orleans turnovers, including some costly ones in the fourth quarter. Houston won the possession battle by committing 12 turnovers, leading to only five Pelicans points.