Rockets 120, Cavaliers 128 - Cleveland not fazed by Harden's monster game

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Tuesday marked the beginning of a rough five-game road trip for the Houston Rockets, who took on the defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers. LeBron James and company were able to watch the Cleveland Indians potentially clinch a World Series win with the satisfaction of winning their own game, beating the Rockets 128-120.

The first half of this ball game was a tale of two Rockets teams – one with James Harden and one without.

The Rockets got off to a great start offensively with Harden working the pick-and-roll to perfection. Play after play, he found the rolling big man (whether that was Clint Capela or Nene) for at least five first quarter buckets, including a majestic behind the back dish that led to a dunk. Harden was clearly focused coming into this game; he was brilliant offensively, active defensively, and engaged in every aspect of the game.

Despite Cleveland exploiting Kevin Love’s matchup with Ryan Anderson (and subsequently Sam Dekker) for 10 points, the Rockets took a 35-29 lead to end the third quarter – behind an easy 13 points and 6 assists from the bearded one.

After playing the entire first quarter Harden took his normal rest to start the second, while Cleveland trotted out LeBron James with the bench unit. This lineup proved to be a disaster for Houston as Cleveland quickly went on a 17-2 run with Harden on the bench. While the Rockets managed to keep LeBron statistically in check, his presence was overwhelming during that run. Kyrie Irving was phenomenal in the first half, scoring 21 points on 63.6% shooting (draining all three attempts from beyond the arc).

It didn’t help Houston that Capela got into early foul trouble and that the Rockets couldn’t knock down many of their open looks from outside. In fact, while Harden hit 60% (3/5) of his three-point attempts, the rest of the team only hit 16.7% (2/12).

Harden finished the half with 22 points, 8 assists, 4 rebounds, and team-high +11 (meaning that the Rockets outscored the Cavs by 11 points with Harden on the floor), but the Rockets were down 63-59.

The second half opened with Trevor Ariza taking an inadvertent shot to the face from Tristan Thompson. He would return to the game towards the end of the third quarter after getting a bandage under his right eye.

The third quarter saw better energy and contributions from key role players like KJ McDaniels, Sam Dekker, and Nene – with the big man even stepping out beyond the arc and nailing a three all the way from Progressive Field. Nene was better defensively, but the combination of himself and Ryan Anderson couldn’t keep Cleveland off the glass.

Harden continued to assert himself in the third, adding 9 more points, 4 more assists, and 2 more rebounds. More importantly, he kept the offense moving better than the Rockets had seen in previous second halves. This season, the offense has stalled in the second half but it wasn’t that dramatic in this third quarter.

After facing a one-point deficit (85-84) at the end of the third, the Rockets were entering dangerous waters with Harden heading back to the bench. At one point with roughly 8 minutes left in the game, Cleveland had all their star-power on the floor (LeBron, Kyrie, Love) while Harden stayed seated. That didn’t last long as he checked back into the game following a quick timeout from head coach Mike D’Antoni.

Despite the Harden-less Rockets holding their own to start the fourth, quick turnovers from both Harden and Capela led to 9 straight Cleveland points – pushing the lead to 10 (105-95). These turnovers were especially painful because the Rockets had been so good holding onto the ball the entire game – only committing 4 prior to that point (it was Harden’s first and only).

Improved shooting from beyond the arc kept the Rockets in this game as they hit 8 of 15 three-point attempts in the fourth quarter. Eric Gordon, in particular, got hot with 4 of those shots and physical defense (he finished the game with 5 fouls).

In the end, Cleveland’s ‘big 3’ was just too much for the Rockets to stop. Kyrie Irving finished with 32 points, Kevin Love had 24, and LeBron James fell 2 assists shy of a triple-double (18 points, 13 rebounds, 8 assists).

Despite poor outside shooting, the Rockets should be encouraged that they hung in with the defending champions and only committed 7 turnovers. For this fast-paced offense, that’s very impressive.

Still, the Rockets fall to 2-2 on the season with a back-to-back matchup with the New York Knicks tomorrow night in ‘the Big Apple.’

Game Ball 

This is a segment of the game recaps that will give the proverbial game ball to a player that proved to be most valuable to the Rockets on a given night. This award won’t necessarily go to the player that puts up the best numbers, but to the player that made the greatest impact on the team – tangible or intangible.

The fourth game ball of the season goes to James Harden.

I mean, what else is there to really say about his performance tonight? The Rockets were a completely different team without him on the floor (disastrous in the first half). He finished with 41 points on 65% shooting (55% from three), 15 assists, and 7 rebounds, with only 1 turnover.

This was easily Harden’s best game of the season and that’s the kind of production that should be able to win the Rockets a lot of games this season. It’s just tough having to play against the defending champions. With this road trip coming up, Harden’s going to need to be just as good to make sure the Rockets don’t fall into an early hole in the standings.

Game Preview: Houston Rockets vs Cleveland Cavaliers

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After enjoying their first home game and home win of the season the Rockets return to the road for their next five games. The first stop on this road trip is Cleveland to take on the reigning champion, Cavaliers. This game will be the biggest test this Rockets team will face, as the Cavaliers are a much better team than the Mavericks or Lakers.

The Cavaliers are looking to win their fourth straight and move to 4-0 on the season in this game. This Cleveland team, coming off their first championship in the teams existence, has three players currently averaging 20 points per game in Kevin Love (who is also averaging near double digit rebounds), Kyrie Irving and LeBron James (two rebounds per game away from averaging a triple double). In addition to their scoring prowess the Cavaliers are the fourth best defense so far this season.

Starting Lineups

The Rockets starters all had good games, outside of Capela (offensively) and Harden (by his standards). The starting lineup will probably stay the same with Harden at point guard, Gordon at shooting guard, Ariza at small forward, Anderson at power forward, and Capela at center.

The Cavaliers have the same starting lineup that they had in last seasons finals, so needless to say, they are good. After getting a deal done in the 11th hour with JR Smith they were able to retain continuity. Outside of unexpected injuries or illness the Cavaliers starting lineup will likely be Kyrie Irving at point guard, JR Smith at shooting guard, LeBron James at small forward, Kevin Love at power forward, and Tristan Thompson at center.

Three Things to Watch

• Winning in unexpected ways - The Rockets Offense has not looked as good as we had hoped the past two games, often stagnating as shooters struggle to shoot. As a surprise to many the Rockets were able to rely on their defense in the last two games forcing a few timely 24 second violations. It remains to be seen if this defense is sustainable, however.


• Taking on the champs -  It will be interesting to see how the Rockets play against one of the best teams in the NBA. It is still early, but how well they play Cleveland on the road could tell a lot for this newly constructed Rockets team.


• "Triple Dekker!" - While sitting out for most of last season with a back injury, second year forward Sam Dekker spent most of his time working on his jumper, and on Sunday it showed. Sam Dekker made all three of his three point attempts without so much as touching the rim, that combined with his versatile defense led to a great outing for the former first round pick. It will be worth watching to see if this performance leads to D'Antoni giving Dekker more time, as he has with KJ McDaniels.

Prediction and Tip-Off

The Rockets are in for a tough game at the Quicken Loans Arena and I predict it will end with them falling to 2-2. I don't think the first game of the road trip will be all negative though. I predict the Rockets to stay in the game and not allow the Cavaliers to let up.

Tip-off is has been moved up to 5:00 P.M. Central Time, due to the World Series game being played next door, on Tuesday, November 1st and will be televised on ROOT Sports along with NBA TV, with the radio broadcast on Sports Talk 790-AM.