NBA PLAYOFFS
Rockets-Wolves Game 2 recap: Houston rolls 102-82 despite terrible night from Harden
Apr 19, 2018, 6:22 am
James Harden could not buy a basket in Game 2, yet the Rockets rolled on. Rockets.com
James Harden shot 2 of 18, Houston shot below 37% as a team, and the Rockets dismantled the Minnesota Timberwolves 102-82 to seize a commanding 2-0 lead in their round one playoff matchup.
The Rockets knew that in order to avoid another close call like Game 1 everyone would need to contribute alongside Harden. Planning, however, is different from execution, and Houston stumbled drastically out of the gate. Starting forward P.J. Tucker found himself in foul trouble early in the quarter, forcing him to sit in exchange for Gerald Green. The Rockets shot an abysmal 5-of-25 in the quarter, including a 2-of-9 three-point range effort. Harden’s performance was somehow even more worrisome, as he was 1-of-7 for the quarter. The Timberwolves pounded the inside and showed a relentless tenacity throughout the quarter, while shooting 9-of-23 as a team. What was most alarming was that it wasn’t Minnesota’s defense that was stifling the Rockets, it was simply awful shooting.
In a rare sub 20-point first quarter showing for the Rockets, it seemed like there was a justifiable cause for concern for the No. 1 seed. That was when the Houston team that posted 65 wins in the regular season showed up. Led by Green and Chris Paul, the Rockets went on a quarter-long rampage, out scoring the suddenly ice-cold Timberwolves 37-17. Harden remained in his slump, and stretched his cold streak to 1-of-12 before heading to the locker room. At the same time, Green had racked up 12 points in 14 minutes, on 4-of-7 from 3-point range.
Houston cruised to a victory from that point on, despite Harden’s individual shooting struggles. Eric Gordon continued his slow playoff start, shooting 3-of-13 for 9 points; however Paul and Green picked up the slack, contributing 27 and 21 points respectively.
The same could not be said for the Timberwolves, who were expecting a bounce back game from star center Karl Anthony-Towns after scoring only 8 points in game one. Towns fired out of the gate in Game 2, scoring 5 points in the first 6 minutes. Bizarrely enough, that would turn out to be the only points he would contribute. After an incredible collective first quarter, the Timberwolves went ice cold from the field. Forward Nemanja Bjelica led the team with 16 points, and was one of only three Timberwolves that scored in double digits.
Takeaways
This is not another Rockets playoff team of old.
Game 1 looked very reminiscent of the frustrating playoff Rockets we’ve all come to know; that being a one-dimensional offense where everyone on the team fades under the lights and Harden is forced to play hero-ball for 48 minutes. If Harden had performed like he did in Game 2 on any previous Rockets playoff team, the foregone conclusion would be that they lost. Instead, we watched as Paul and Green assumed command of the offense and soundly eviscerated a porous Minnesota defense. This comes on the heels of a 24 point performance from Clint Capela as well. In two games the Rockets have proven that they no longer live by the Harden and die by the Harden. And just wait until Gordon heats up and Ryan Anderson and Luc Mbah a Moute return.
The Timberwolves proved how perfect they need to play to win.
Minnesota showcased an aggressive penetrating offense in the first quarter, with driving layups and sharp shooting from mid range. They also succeeded in forcing Tucker into foul trouble, while holding the Rockets to 20% shooting from the field as a team. This was their opening haymaker, and it was a blow that still only secured a 5-point lead heading into the second quarter. If that was the best that Minnesota has to throw at Houston, the Rockets should wrap this series up on the road without issue.
Clint Capela has arrived
How do you follow up a 24 point, 12 rebound, 3 block performance against one of the elite big men in the game? Follow it up with an 8 point, 16 rebound game and force Towns to sit for all but 4 minutes in the second half due to his ineffectiveness. Capela has been a quiet force all season, overshadowed by a Hall of Fame point guard and a presumptive regular season MVP. The playoffs, however, are where basketball gets gritty and you need an inside presence to stay afloat. National broadcasters are going to talk about Capela like he’s just now performing at an All-Star level, but the truth is that he’s been doing it all season.
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After finishing up with the Guardians the Astros have a rather important series for early May with the Seattle Mariners heading to town for the weekend. While it’s still too early to be an absolute must-win series for the Astros, losing the series to drop seven or eight games off the division lead would make successfully defending their American League West title that much more unlikely.
Since their own stumble out of the gate to a 6-10 record the Mariners have been racking up series wins, including one this week over the Atlanta Braves. The M’s offense is largely Mmm Mmm Bad, but their pitching is sensational. In 18 games after the 6-10 start, the Mariners gave up five runs in a game once. In the other 17 games they only gave up four runs once. Over the 18 games their starting pitchers gave up 18 earned runs total with a 1.44 earned run average. That’s absurd. Coming into the season Seattle’s starting rotation was clearly better on paper than those of the Astros and Texas Rangers, and it has crystal clearly played out as such into the second month of the schedule.
While it’s natural to focus on and fret over one’s own team's woes when they are plentiful as they have been for the Astros, a reminder that not all grass is greener elsewhere. Alex Bregman has been awful so far. So has young Mariners’ superstar Julio Rodriguez. A meager four extra base hits over his first 30 games were all Julio produced down at the ballyard. That the Mariners are well ahead of the Astros with J-Rod significantly underperforming is good news for Seattle.
Caratini comes through!
So it turns out the Astros are allowed to have a Puerto Rican-born catcher who can hit a little bit. Victor Caratini’s pedigree is not that of a quality offensive player, but he has swung the bat well thus far in his limited playing time and provided the most exciting moment of the Astros’ season with his two-out two-run 10th inning game winning home run Tuesday night. I grant that one could certainly say “Hey! Ronel Blanco finishing off his no-hitter has been the most exciting moment.” I opt for the suddenness of Caratini’s blow turning near defeat into instant victory for a team that has been lousy overall to this point. Frittering away a game the Astros had led 8-3 would have been another blow. Instead, to the Victor belong the spoils.
Pudge Rodriguez is the greatest native Puerto Rican catcher, but he was no longer a good hitter when with the Astros for the majority of the 2009 season. Then there’s Martin Maldonado.
Maldonado’s hitting stats with the Astros look Mike Piazza-ian compared to what Jose Abreu was doing this season. Finally, mercifully for all, Abreu is off the roster as he accepts a stint at rookie-level ball in Florida to see if he can perform baseball-CPR on his swing and career. Until or unless he proves otherwise, Abreu is washed up and at some point the Astros will have to accept it and swallow whatever is left on his contract that runs through next season. For now Abreu makes over $120,000 per game to not be on the roster. At his level of performance, that’s a better deal than paying him that money to be on the roster.
Abreu’s seven hits in 71 at bats for an .099 batting average with a .269 OPS is a humiliating stat line. In 2018 George Springer went to sleep the night of June 13 batting .293 after going hitless in his last four at bats in a 13-5 Astros’ win over Oakland. At the time no one could have ever envisioned that Springer had started a deep, deep funk which would have him endure a nightmarish six for 78 stretch at the plate (.077 batting average). Springer then hit .293 the rest of the season.
Abreu’s exile opened the door for Joey Loperfido to begin his Major League career. Very cool for Loperfido to smack a two-run single in his first game. He also struck out twice. Loperfido will amass whiffs by the bushel, he had 37 strikeouts in 101 at bats at AAA Sugar Land. Still, if he can hit .225 with some walks mixed in (he drew 16 with the Space Cowboys) and deliver some of his obvious power (13 homers in 25 games for the ex-Skeeters) that’s an upgrade over Abreu/Jon Singleton, as well as over Jake Meyers and the awful showing Chas McCormick has posted so far. Frankly, it seems unwise that the Astros only had Loperfido play seven games at first base in the minors this year. If McCormick doesn’t pick it up soon and with Meyers displaying limited offensive upside, the next guy worth a call-up is outfielder Pedro Leon. In January 2021 the Astros gave Leon four million dollars to sign out of Cuba and called him a “rapid mover to the Major Leagues.” Well…
Over his first three minor league seasons Leon flashed tools but definitely underwhelmed. He has been substantially better so far this year. He turns 26 May 28. Just maybe the Astros offense could be the cause of fewer Ls with Loperfido at first and Leon in center field.
Catch our weekly Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast. Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and I discuss varied Astros topics. The first post for the week generally goes up Monday afternoon (second part released Tuesday) via YouTube: stone cold stros - YouTube with the complete audio available via Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.