Just as the Nuggets’ game plan has reverted back to the fun-and-gun style of two years ago since Melvin Hunt took over as interim head coach, the Houston Rockets dusted off their old game plan for stopping it.
Namely, get back in transition defense and make the Nuggets operate in the half court.
It took the Rockets a quarter to get to that, but once they did, they found no alterations were needed. The plan remains tried and true.
But getting slowed down wasn’t the Nuggets’ only issue in a 114-100 loss to Houston on Saturday night at the Pepsi Center. Turnovers (18) were an issue. Taking an ever-increasing number of jump shots (without making a high percentage of them) was an issue.
But most of all, falling apart in the second and third quarters was an issue.
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“Put up a good effort against a really good team,” Hunt said. “Just in that middle section, we couldn’t find a shot.”
Said Nuggets forward Danilo Gallinari, who scored 11 points on 3-of-15 shooting: “We were not making a lot of shots, especially me. I had a lot of open looks. I was not able to knock them down. They were able to get a couple of steals, and they were able to make shots. They were able to score in the post, too.”
The Rockets caught the Nuggets and pulled away in the middle periods, outscoring them 63-45 in grind-out style. There really wasn’t a ton of flash involved. The Rockets simply shut off the paint, forced the Nuggets to make contested shots and then kept the pace high themselves.
The Nuggets were outscored 48-36 in the paint and 25-24 in fast-break points. So, essentially, the Rockets beat the Nuggets in the couple of areas that had made them successful since Hunt took over last week. The loss dropped the Nuggets to 2-2 under Hunt.
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“We had some unforced errors, some turnovers that cost us,” Hunt said. “They were bad turmovers, poor court balance turnovers. Once we did that, they kind of got back into the game and then it fizzled down the work we did early (in the game).”
It was the end of a stretch of four games in five nights, but it also doubled as the start of a four-game homestand full of heavy hitters — and the New York Knicks.
Houston got one of its biggest contributions from a familiar face.
Aside from the copious amounts of red on his jersey, Corey Brewer’s impact had been seen in these parts before. He hit the corner 3-pointer. He ran the court and finished with dunks. He harassed Nuggets ball handlers to dig out steals. And all of that helped his team, which was also playing its fourth game in five nights, to have the energy to see this one through.
Brewer scored 24 points off the bench, but it was James Harden who reprised his season-long role as Rockets hero. He scored 18 of his 28 points in the second half to lead all scorers.
Wilson Chandler led the Nuggets with 26 points.
