Much better energy and effort from Rockets leads to rout of Heat

Posted: January 3, 2015 -- 10:50 pm.

HOUSTON, TX (Toyota Center) -- After playing their worst game of the 2014-'15 NBA season Friday night, the Houston Rockets bounced back in a massive way Saturday night with a thorough thumping of the Miami Heat 115-79.

Friday night, in a 111-83 whitewashing by the New Orleans Pelicans, Kevin McHale benched his starters after less than two minutes into the third quarter due to lack of effort and energy. Saturday night, the "well-rested" starters played with energy, effort, and passion from the opening tip of the game.

"What a difference a night makes," said Kevin McHale after the game. "We played well. As bad as we were last night, we moved the ball pretty well tonight."

"We lost by thirty last night. I guess that's enough motivation there," Patrick Beverley added.  "We defended today. We played a really good team with good players; and, we defended them well."

Corey Brewer summed up the big turnaround in 24 hours: "Last night, we just didn't have it. We didn't play hard; and, we didn't have any energy. Tonight, we came back and bounced back. That's the way you're supposed to bounce back."

Trevor Ariza set the defensive tone with two of the Rockets three steals in the first 2:11 of the ball game. The Rockets finished the first quarter with five steals and 11 points off the Heat's seven first quarter turnovers.

Despite trailing 27-23 after the first quarter, the Rockets' effort was light years better than Friday night's disaster.

Donatas Motiejunas scored nine points in the opening quarter - including three baskets in the post against the shorter Danny Granger. The Heat's porous low post defense led to Dwight Howard's destroying them in the second stanza.

In the second quarter, Dwight Howard dominated the Heat's shorter and lighter big men. Howard scored 19 points in the second period on 8 for 10 field goal shooting. Miami had no answers for Howard's dominance in the paint. The Rockets outscored the Heat 24-14 in the paint in the second quarter and 38-22 in the paint in the first half.

"They (the Heat) didn't really double team," Howard acknowledged. "That works out a lot better for me when I can catch it deep and just be able to go up and finish."

"Dwight got engaged really in the start of the second quarter," said McHale. "He was pushing; but, he kept rebounding all night long. I thought our second unit came in there and gave us a good burst. Our defense was solid. Trevor had six steals which really anchored our defense."

Howard's 19 points in the second quarter were half of the Rockets' 38 points. The Rockets shot 68.2% (15 for 22) from the floor and outscored the Heat 38-22 in the quarter and led 61-49 at halftime.

The Rockets (23-10) tightened the screws defensively in the third quarter and limited the Heat (14-20) to just 11 points in the period. The Heat made just 4 of 16 field goals and turned the ball over six times in the quarter.

With a thirty-four point (94-60) lead after three quarters, the Rockets and their fans enjoyed a full twelve minutes of garbage time in the fourth quarter.

James Harden scored a game-high 28 points for the Rockets - in just 28 minutes. Harden made 9 of 17 field goals and 7 of 7 free throws. Dwight Howard  scored 23 points in 26 minutes. Howard pulled down a game-high 13 boards, too. Josh Smith scored 12 points (6 for 9 field goals) off the bench. Corey Brewer scored 11 off the bench. Donatas Motiejunas (12 points) and Patrick Beverley (11 points) rounded out the double-digit scoring efforts by the Rockets.

"We came out; and, we played harder which we need to. We executed," James Harden said. "We had a lot of energy. Guys really played well. We shared the ball on offense. On defense, we helped each other out."

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