3 Takeaways From Thunder-Rockets – Game 1
The 4th-seeded Houston Rockets, without superstar point guard Russell Westbrook, defeated the 5th-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday, jumping out to 1-0 lead in their Western Conference first round playoff matchup.
Here are the key takeaways from Tuesday's game:
1. No answer for James Harden
Well, no team really has an answer for James Harden.
But on Tuesday, the Thunder continuously tried and failed.
OKC threw multiple defenders at Harden throughout the course of the game, including Terrance Ferguson, Chris Paul, Andre Roberson and Dennis Schroder.
And none of it worked.
En route to scoring 37 points, The Beard shot 12-for-22 from the field, 6-for-13 from three and 7-for-8 from the line. It was his fifth time scoring at least 30 points in the last nine games and he is averaging 34.5 points in the bubble.
2. No Brodie, no problem
Russell Westbrook missed Game 1 with a quad injury, and there is no telling when he will return to the Houston lineup.
But if the Rockets shoot like they did on Tuesday, Westbrook can take his time.
Houston knocked down 20 of its 52 three-point attempts against the Thunder, and for the seventh consecutive game, they've attempted more threes than twos.
The Rockets are 13-1 this season when they connect on 20 or more threes.
3. Battle of the benches
Westbrook was out, but the Rockets were happy to see Eric Gordon for the third straight game. And though Gordon normally comes off the bench for Houston, he started and played 30 minutes on Tuesday, scoring 21 points.
Luckily for Houston, it didn't affect its bench production, as they outscored OKC's bench 42-27, led by Jeff Green's 22 points in a reserve role.
Houston had five players score in double-figures, two of whom came off the bench. The Thunder only had three double-digit scorers in Paul, Danilo Gallinari and Steven Adams – all starters.
