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Houston travelled to Phoenix Monday night for their first matchup if the season against the Suns. Sloppy ball handling and poor interior defense turned the contest into a track meet as both teams sprinted up and down the court. It was Houston, however, that would come out on top as they were propelled once again by a prolific performance from James Harden.
Points in the paint continues to be a problem
With all the talk about Houston searching for another wing to trade for in the beginning of the season, the target has seemingly shifted toward more rim protection. Clint Capella's absence from the paint has exposed Houston as woefully undersized and practically incapable of defending interior penetration. The Suns focused on that weakness as forwards Josh Jackson, and Kelly Oubre Jr. slashed their way to 25 and 23 points respectively. DeAndre Ayton continued his impressive rookie campaign as well, adding 15 points of his own inside. Once again the Rockets were outscored 62-50 inside the paint.
The Chris Paul conundrum
While still clearly the best option the Rockets have at point guard, Paul is definitely not the version of himself that helped guide Houston to a franchise-best 65 win season just last year. At least not at the moment. Coming off an extended absence due to injury, Paul has seemed slightly off while trying to find a rhythm in an offense that has been dominated by James Harden. Paul capitalized on the lack of experience from the young Suns team with 5 steals, but his 6 turnovers were hard to ignore. Hopefully it's simply a matter of acclimating to the styles of new teammates and not a sign of something worse.
Harden continues to soar
With 44 more points, Harden extended his streak of consecutive 30-point games to 27, inching closer to the second longest streak of 31 set by Wilt Chamberlain. It was also his 20th 40-point game, a feat matched only by Wilt, Michael Jordan, and Rick Barry within the first 50 games of a season. He also added 8 rebounds and 6 assists and 3 steals in the effort.
Rockets player of the game
James Harden: 44 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals
Suns player of the games
Josh Jackson: 25 points, 5 rebounds
Next up:
Houston travels to Sacramento to take on the Kings at 9 central on Wednesday.
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Oswald Peraza hit a two-run single in the ninth inning to help the Los Angeles Angels snap a three-game losing skid by beating the Houston Astros 4-1 on Saturday night.
Peraza entered the game as a defensive replacement in the seventh inning and hit a bases-loaded fly ball to deep right field that eluded the outstretched glove of Cam Smith. It was the fourth straight hit off Astros closer Bryan Abreu (3-4), who had not allowed a run in his previous 12 appearances.
The Angels third run of the ninth inning scored when Mike Trout walked with the bases loaded.
Kyle Hendricks allowed one run while scattering seven hits over six innings. He held the Astros to 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position, the one hit coming on Jesús Sánchez’s third-inning infield single that scored Jeremy Peña.
Reid Detmers worked around a leadoff walk to keep the Astros scoreless in the seventh, and José Fermin (3-2) retired the side in order in the eighth before Kenley Jansen worked a scoreless ninth to earn his 24th save.
Houston’s Spencer Arrighetti struck out a season-high eight batters over 6 1/3 innings. The only hit he allowed was Zach Neto’s third-inning solo home run.
Yordan Alvarez had two hits for the Astros, who remained three games ahead of Seattle for first place in the AL West.
Key moment
Peraza’s two-run single to deep right field that broke a 1-1 tie in the ninth.
Key Stat
Opponents were 5 for 44 against Abreu in August before he allowed four straight hits in the ninth.
Up next
Astros RHP Hunter Brown (10-6, 2.37 ERA) faces RHP José Soriano (9-9, 3.85) when the series continues Sunday.