Rockets cool off against Nuggets, suffer double-digit loss
DENVER – The Rockets chase for the sixth seed took a hit Saturday and for that, they might have been ready to give thanks. If these Denver Nuggets are what would be waiting them, seventh looks just fine by comparison.
Sure, they were playing the second half of a particularly brutal back-to-back, complete with a 4 a.m. hotel arrival. They were playing short-handed without Carlos Delfino and Chandler Parsons, playing a Nuggets team determined to respond to the loss of Danilo Gallinari and closing in on a franchise record homecourt winning streak.
Weigh all that for all it’s worth, and after the Nuggets spanked the Rockets, 132-114, on Saturday, the Rockets could still view the idea of facing them again in the post-season along the lines of a series of root canal sessions.
It’s one thing to wear down or fade late, another to be destroyed the way the Nuggets offense blew up the Rockets on Saturday, scoring more points than they had in any game this season and more than any team has in four quarters against the Rockets.
With the Nuggets, winners of 20-consecutive home games, closing in on the third seed and the Rockets seventh, the Rockets are more likely to face the Oklahoma City Thunder or San Antonio Spurs, less than inviting options. After Saturday, however, the Rockets could not like the idea of seeing the Nuggets again, either.
After the Rockets were through with their little first-quarter shooting spree, the Nuggets dominated the rest of the way by scoring with spectacular ease. Gallinari’s replacements, Corey Brewer and Wilson Chandler, flew past them on the break and whipped them in the halfcourt. After a solid first quarter, the Rockets never came close to stopping the Denver offense as the Nuggets scored 77 points in the second and third quarters, making 65.2 percent of their shots.
The Nuggets turned the Rockets’ 19 turnovers into 32 points. Their 74 points in the paint and 35 fast break points were by far the most the Rockets have allowed this season. Brewer scored 22 points in 29 minutes off the bench. Chandler, who started in Gallinari’s spot, made 9 of 15 shots for 21.
Jeremy Lin kept the Rockets in the game for awhile, scoring 23 points. But James Harden, who has struggled against Andre Iguodala and the Nuggets in all four meetings went 2 of 10. He made all 10 of his free throws in the first half, giving him 631 this season to break Moses Malone’s franchise record. He did not take another free throw the rest of the game.
The Rockets had gotten off to a fine start, largely by knocking down 3s and keeping the Nuggets in the halfcourt. The Rockets made 6 of 9 3-pointers in the first quarter and pulled in the rebounds of Denver’s missed jump shots. When Terrence Jones swatted away a Brewer drive, sending the Rockets on a fast break, James Anderson finished it with a powerful slam over Evan Fournier for a 12-point lead with less than two minutes left in the first quarter.
From that moment on, however, they did not come close to stopping the Nuggets. A wave of missed 3-pointers (the Rockets went from hitting 6 of 9 3s in the first quarter to 1 of 7 in the second – and turnovers started the Nuggets break and Brewer repeatedly ended it. Brewer scored 10 of his 13 first half points in the second quarter when he beat the Rockets down the court and off the dribble.
The Nuggets scored 13 fast break points in the second quarter, but the Rockets were not stopping them anywhere else. Denver’s 39 second-quarter points – on 66.7 percent shooting – were just two shy of the most the Rockets allowed in the quarter all season. The 20-point turnaround, from the Rockets 12-point lead to eight-point halftime deficit, would have been much worse if not for Lin hitting 6 of 8 shots to score 16 points.
Lin, however, cooled off. Harden never did heat up. Most of all, the Rockets never again defended the Nuggets well enough to slow the onslaught.
