The Houston Rockets faced a lot of questions heading into this season after a summer that saw Chandler Parsons suddenly bolt for Dallas, while Dwight Howard’s co-Twin Tower Omer Asik headed to New Orleans. Losing Asik wasn’t a big surprise, as he had pouted his way through most of last season, but letting Parsons go in such a bizarre manner was definitely a shock. In addition, the Rockets whiffed on all their other big free agent targets (most notably Chris Bosh, who they faced Tuesday night, and is looking like a #1 option again), and seemingly settled on Trevor Ariza to replace Parsons. Well, “settling” landed the Rockets a guy who, through five games, is shooting 59% from three-point range (57% overall) and average 17 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. Entering the game, Ariza even had this peculiar streak going for him:
Another interesting stat: of Ariza’s 69 points so far, 0 of them are from mid-range. All lay-ups and 3’s.
— Bryan Mears (@bryan_mears) November 4, 2014
(Note: all five of Ariza’s field goals Tuesday night were threes as well, so go ahead and bump that number to 84 — not counting free throws.)
Meanwhile, Houston’s 5-0 start is a bit deceiving, as they haven’t exactly faced a murderer’s row of opponents (their first four games were against the Lakers, Jazz, Celtics and 76ers), but they have had to do it mostly on the road, including their first big test against Miami. They passed with flying colors, as Dwight Howard racked up 26 points and 10 rebounds, while James Harden did what you see in the video above.
That’s Harden finishing one rebound shy of a triple-double, and basically toying with the defending Eastern Conference champions on their home floor. He was all over the place, playing defense, hitting teammates with wicked cross-court assists, launching outlet passes — putting away the Heat in every facet of the game. Harden’s field goal percentage this season (37%) still leaves a little to be desired, but his 13.5 free throw attempts — as annoying as it may be to watch — is more than making up for it, as he’s hitting those at a 94.4% clip.
The Rockets get their second big test in a row on Thursday when the defending champion — and division rival — Spurs blow into town.
