Houston Rockets Blog – Page 44 – NBA Blog

James Harden gets triple-double as Rockets beat Bobcats

James Harden never had a game like this, and he never saw a player hurt the way Charlotte’s Michael Kidd-Gilchrist was on Saturday night.

Harden had 21 points, a career-high 11 rebounds and 11 assists for his first career triple-double in the Rockets’ 109-95 win over the Bobcats on Saturday night.

The Rockets broke open a close game in the fourth quarter, after Kidd-Gilchrist collided with teammate Jeff Taylor and left the court on a stretcher. Kidd-Gilchrist, the second overall pick in last year’s draft out of Kentucky, was fitted with a neck brace and taken to the hospital for X-rays.

The team said late Saturday night that Kidd-Gilchrist would be hospitalized overnight with a concussion. The X-rays and a CT scan were negative, the Bobcats said…

Chandler Parsons and Patrick Patterson scored 24 points apiece for the Rockets. Patterson hit 10 of 12 shots and scored 14 points in the final quarter to help Houston finally pull away…

Houston had 16 assists on 24 first-half field goals and led 62-51 at the break…

Sessions scored at least 20 points for the fourth time in five games. … Rockets F Carlos Delfino strained his right elbow in the second quarter and did not return to the game. … The Rockets have scored at least 60 points in 18 first halves this season. … Asik had 19 points and 15 rebounds for Houston.

— Reported by Chris Duncan of the Associated Press

Rockets beat Jazz in Utah by 45 points

The Houston Rockets had plenty of trouble getting to Salt Lake City as a blizzard left them grounded for a while in western Colorado.

Once they arrived, they made the Jazz pay, rolling to a 125-80 victory on Monday night and handing Utah the most-lopsided home loss in franchise history.

”We could have had Michael Jordan in his prime with us tonight . and it wouldn’t have mattered (the way we played),” Jazz center Al Jefferson lamented…

James Harden continued to do most of the damage, scoring 25 points despite sitting the entire fourth quarter with the rest of the Rockets starters…

When he wasn’t driving the lane, the Rockets were pouring in 3-pointers.

They hit 16 of 34 on the night to tie their season high for shots made beyond the arc.

But it was their pace that floored the Jazz, outscoring Utah 26-2 on the break…

The Rockets held Utah to 39.5 percent shooting, and the Jazz made just 5 of 18 3-pointers.

Carlos Delfino and Marcus Morris each hit four 3-pointers alone for Houston and Omer Asik tied a career high with 19 rebounds.

Every Rockets player scored, including six in double figures, with Morris adding 16 and Delfino 14…

Randy Foye led Utah with 12 points.

— Reported by Lynn DeBruin of the Associated Press

Rockets recall Donatas Motiejunas from D-League again

Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey announced today that the team has recalled forward/center Donatas Motiejunas from Houston’s single-affiliation NBA D-League partner Rio Grande Valley.

Motiejunas (7-0, 222, Lithuania), who was re-assigned to the Vipers on Jan. 22, has averaged 20.3 points, 9.7 rebounds and 3.0 assists in seven starts with Rio Grande Valley this season. With the Rockets, Motiejunas is currently averaging 1.6 points and 0.3 boards in 14 games.

Houston Rockets, Royce White agree to new beginning

The Houston Rockets and Royce White on Saturday reached an agreement that addresses the major issues that they have been discussing, provides a new start, and gives Royce the best opportunity for long term success as a Houston Rocket.

This has been a learning process for both parties.

The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association have approved the settlement.

— Reported by Rockets.com

Rockets continue to beat the Nets

Jeremy Lin said the Houston Rockets just needed to see what they were doing wrong in order to fix it.

James Harden scored 29 points, Chandler Parsons added 16 points and a career-high 11 assists and the Rockets dominated inside to beat Brooklyn 119-106 on Saturday night for their 12th consecutive win over the Nets.

Omer Asik had 20 points and 16 rebounds for Houston, which outrebounded the Nets 50-31 and outscored Brooklyn 60-24 in the paint. Houston had 31 assists on 43 field goals and committed only 11 turnovers, the team’s lowest total in three weeks.

The Rockets dropped seven in a row from Jan. 9-19, and Lin said a lengthy film session on Thursday helped them correct their mistakes…

Nets star Deron Williams scored 27 points, but cooled off after a 20-point first quarter. He was ejected with 1:07 left after arguing a call with referee David Jones and didn’t speak to the media after the game…

Brook Lopez scored 21 points and Joe Johnson added 13 for Brooklyn, which trailed by as much as 18 in the first half.

“We dug a hole because we weren’t defending well or we couldn’t put the ball in the basket,” Nets coach P.J. Carlesimo said.

The Rockets had 17 assists on their first 20 field goals. Parsons had eight assists by himself in the first half, matching his career high for a game…

Harden missed a free throw, snapping a streak of 36 straight successful foul shots.

— Reported by Chris Duncan of the Associated Press

James Harden scores 30, Rockets beat Hornets 100-82

James Harden committed a season-high eight turnovers against the Hornets. He shrugged that off because he also handed out eight assists, one off his season high, as the Houston Rockets played their best game in almost three weeks.

Harden had 30 points and the Rockets broke out of their worst slump of the season by beating New Orleans 100-82 on Friday night.

”It was about making the easy play,” said Harden, selected to his first All-Star team Thursday. ”Sometimes I tried to do too much, but for the most part our team played great defensively and offensively for four quarters. We needed it a lot just for our confidence.”

The Rockets, who had lost eight of nine and trailed by double digits in 12 straight games, led almost all the way this time. Harden scored 10 points and Patrick Patterson had six during a 16-2 run early in the third quarter as Houston took control, going ahead 64-46…

Jeremy Lin had 13 points and eight assists for Houston, matching his assist total from the previous three games combined.

The Rockets outrebounded the Hornets 44-34 and made 11 of 21 3-pointers after barely hitting more than 30 percent during their skid. Houston limited the Hornets to 38.8 percent shooting, including a dismal 3 of 20 from 3-point range. The Rockets scored 20 fast-break points to nine for New Orleans…

Eric Gordon scored 20 points for New Orleans and Ryan Anderson added 19 off the bench, but point guard Greivis Vasquez had a season-low two points on 1-of-6 shooting and played barely more than 6 minutes in the second half.

— Reported by Guerry Smith of the Associated Press

Rockets close to an agreement with Royce White to return to team

Rookie forward Royce White is close to returning to the Rockets and to reporting to their D-League affiliate.

In a call in to a morning show on 97.9 The Box, White said he plans to report to the D-League on Feb. 11, pending “paper work” on a plan with the team.

According to a person with knowledge of the plan, the Rockets are close to making an announcement in which White would return to the team under a written agreement that includes key elements of the protocols that White wanted to have as an addendum to his contract. That agreement would not, however, give authority for decision-making to an individual outside the organization, as White wanted.

Under the agreement, writing with input from the NBA and the NBPA, White would resume workouts to prepare for the D-League assignment. He had been working out for several days this month with basketball staff intern Derrick Alston but was suspended Jan. 6, one week after he said he would refuse his assignment to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers. Rockets general manager Daryl Morey said White was suspended “for refusing to provide services as required by his Uniform Player Contract.”

— Reported by Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle (Blog)

New guys lift Wolves to 92-79 win over Rockets

Chris Johnson arrived in Minnesota on Friday night just hoping to provide a little bit of energy and make a solid impression in his latest effort to catch on with an NBA team.

About 24 hours later, he was hearing chants of ”M-V-P! M-V-P!” and teaming with another new face to carry the Timberwolves to a much-needed victory.

Johnson and Mickael Gelabale signed 10-day contracts on Saturday morning, then scored the first 23 points of the fourth quarter to lift the Timberwolves to a 92-79 victory over the slumping Houston Rockets on Saturday night.

Johnson, signed from Santa Cruz of the NBA Development League, scored 13 of his 15 points in the fourth. Gelabale, a forward who arrived from France on Thursday, had 10 of his 11 points in the final 12 minutes to help the injury-plagued Wolves snap a five-game skid…

James Harden scored 18 points on 5-of-18 shooting for the Rockets, who have lost seven straight games. Houston shot 32 percent and committed 20 turnovers in another lethargic effort that had coach Kevin McHale scrambling to find anybody who could give them some energy.

The Rockets starters shot 25.5 percent for the game and Harden is shooting 28 percent (23 for 80) over the last three games…

Andrei Kirilenko had 21 points and 11 rebounds, and Luke Ridnour scored 16 points for the Timberwolves, who had lost each of their previous five by double digits and were playing with just nine healthy bodies…

The Wolves were missing C Nikola Pekovic (bruised right quad), F Dante Cunningham (illness), G Alexey Shved (ankle), F Kevin Love (hand), F Chase Budinger (knee), G Brandon Roy (knee), F Josh Howard (knee) and G Malcolm Lee (hip).

— Reported by Jon Krawczynski of the Associated Press

Paul George leads Pacers past Rockets 105-95

Paul George made everything look easy Friday night.

Scoring, rebound, playing defense, even winning seems second-nature to the Pacers’ budding star these days.

George finished with 31 points, and David West added 20 points and 11 rebounds, helping Central Division-leading Indiana pull away from struggling Houston 105-95.

”My guys found me, so I just had to knock shots down,” George said. ”It felt good, it’s easy to start in a flow when you get some good looks early on and that was the case tonight.”

George has been the key figure in Indiana’s incredible turnaround. The Pacers (25-16) have rebounded from a sluggish start by going 15-5 over the last 20 games, pulling even in the win column with the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference and winning 11 straight at home – their longest since winning 14 in a row in 2002-03.

Plus, George continued to make his case for being on the East’s All-Star roster by going 8-of-11 from the field and knocking down five 3-pointers in the first half, and then playing a second half in which he looked content to make all the right moves regardless of his scoring chances.

The result: George finished 11 of 19 from the field, 7 of 10 from 3-point range, had six rebounds, five steals, three assists and one block in a game the Pacers dictated almost from start to finish. It was George’s third 30-point game of the season…

While Omer Asik scored a career-high 22 points and finished with 11 rebounds, the Pacers held James Harden to 17 points on 5-of-19 shooting. Harden, who was defended most of the night by George, had a career-best streak of 22 straight games with 20 or more points end on the same night the NBA’s second-best scoring team finished 10 points below it average and shot just 41.0 percent from the field.

— Reported by Michael Marot of the Associated Press

Rockets re-assign Terrence Jones to D-League yet again

Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey announced today that the team has re-assigned forward Terrence Jones to Houston’s single-affiliation NBA D-League partner the Rio Grande Valley Vipers.

Jones (6-9, 252, Kentucky) has averaged 19.2 points and 11.0 rebounds in nine games (nine starts) with Rio Grande Valley this season. Re-assigned to the Vipers on Dec. 26 and recalled on Jan. 14, Jones helped Rio Grande Valley pull to within a half game of first place in D-League’s Central Division. Through Jan. 13, Jones stood second in the D-League in rebounds per game (11.0) and ninth in the league in scoring average (19.2). In his rookie campaign with the Rockets, Jones has averaged 3.1 points and 1.6 rebounds in 11 games with Houston in 2012-13.