Rockets fall behind Thunder's sizzling pace

The Thunder set a sizzling pace, but the Rockets stayed with them. The Thunder made 3s as they rarely do and free throws as always, but the so did the Rockets.It could not last.
Through 34 minutes, the Rockets were within two, but Oklahoma City had made scoring look as easy as Kevin Durant rising for a jump shot or
Russell Westbrook bolting to the rim.
Finally, the Rockets offense stumbled, then cracked and when they could no longer keep up the Thunder built an 18-point lead to roll to a 117-105
win in the best shooting performance against the Rockets this season.
The Thunder made 57.7 percent of their shots, their best shooting night of the season, topping the Warriors’ 55.4 percent shooting in the second
game of the season for the best shooting against the Rockets this season.
The Thunder shot so well that they not only typically made their free throws, hitting 28 of 29 to add to their credentials as the league’s best free
throw shooting team, they also made 7 of 11 3s, defying their place as the worst 3-point shooting team.
They hit a lot of long jumpers, which is not their strength,” Shane Battier said. “You have to take the easy ones away. To let a team shoot 57
percent on the road is a death sentence.”
urant was especially unstoppable, hitting 12 of 18 shots to score 32 points. The league’s leading scorer, Durant had made just 7 of 18 shots in the Rockets win against the Thunder, falling nine points shy of his average. On Wednesday, he hit every variety of shot.“There were only about three or four that I was upset about the coverage,” Battier said. “Other than that, I was satisfied with the shots he took. Long, two-point jump shots. That’s the best case scenario.”

Beyond Durant’s barrage, the Rockets gave up far too many of the “easy ones,” with Oklahoma City scoring 15 second-chance points and 20 on

the break. The Rockets did get deflections, leading to 17 second chance points. But when Oklahoma City ran its offense, it routinely penetrated

the Rockets defense, and moved the ball to open shots.

“They have the highest scoring duo in the league,” Kyle Lowry said of Durant and Westbrook. “And that team knows its roles. Everybody knows

what’s going to happen in every situation. They’re just a tough, hard matchup to defend.”

Yet, with two minutes left in the third quarter, Luis Scola scored on a scoop inside and the Rockets were within two. Scola finished with 18, playing

just 27 minutes as Rick Adelman went small in the fourth quarter after the Thunder pulled away. But the game got out of hand almost immediately
after his last basket.
With Oklahoma up 79-76 with 1:26 left in the quarter, Thunder forward Jeff Green, who had 21 points, finished a reverse, Ish Smith turned it over on
consecutive possessions, leading to a Green break and two free throws. Eric Maynor drilled a jumper to end the quarter and a rapid 8-0 run to an 11-point lead.“We finished the third quarter so poorly, it just killed us,” Adelman said. “It was a two-point game. They scored eight straight points. It got them rolling at the start of the fourth quarter.
when James Harden opened the fourth quarter with a 3, Oklahoma City led 90-76, and the Rockets seemed to be running out of time with almost
the entire fourth quarter left and less than three minutes after they were within two.
“We were doing good,” Scola said. “Up until the end of the third quarter, we were right there in the game. Then they were making all their shots. I
think we kind of came back to the same old problems we used to have early in the season. One minute they go ahead and we could never catch
up.”
The Rockets could not make a run late because they could not get stops from the start. As well as they scored, it was no match for a team
scoring more easily than anyone has against them this season.