PrintRockets Hold On For 96-88 Win Over Wizards
Scola delivers once again, helps Houston wrap-up 3-game road trip in style
Jason Friedman
Rockets.com Staff Writer
Houston - The return of Kyle Lowry and Trevor Ariza brought balance back to the Rockets lineup.
The red-hot play of Luis Scola brought home a win.
Houston’s rugged power forward continued his recent run of sterling play Tuesday night, recording game-highs in both points (23) and rebounds (10) while helping to lift his club to a 96-88 win over Washington.
Scola was the only Rockets player who logged more than 30 minutes of action against the Wizards, as Lowry and Ariza’s return from injury allowed Head Coach Rick Adelman to lighten the load for many of his road-weary troops.
But Scola seemed to need no such breather, consistently beating opponents down the floor on breaks while weaving his magic in the low post, on his way to boosting his averages from Houston’s past four contests to 21.8 points and 16 boards per game.
Having Lowry and Ariza back in uniform seemed to spark Houston’s bench, which had been such a strength of the club all season until injuries took their toll on the team in recent weeks. Both players were on the floor – along with Scola and rookies Jordan Hill and Chase Budinger – when the Rockets made their initial run to get back in the game following a sluggish start which saw the team fall behind 20-13 late in the first quarter. Lowry especially altered the dynamic, pushing the pace and picking apart Washington’s defense with several pinpoint passes which led to easy layups and dunks.
Ariza, meanwhile, made his mark more in the second half, even admitting later on that it took him awhile to regain his rhythm following a 7-game absence due to a severe hip flexor. A last-second third quarter layup off a tremendous offensive rebound seemed to spark him, however, as the 6th-year swingman carried that momentum into the final frame during which he drained a pair of 3-pointers to help Houston maintain a comfortable cushion it would not relinquish.
“It’s been a long time,” said Ariza after finishing with 13 points and a pair of steals. “Early in the game I was a little out of sync but as the game progressed I started to feel a little better and it was great to get out on the court again.
“It was real tough sitting out. (Kyle and I are) both competitors and want to help our team win any way we can, so it’s tough sitting on the bench while our team is struggling. But we’re back now and ready to roll.”
Houston prevailed despite shooting just 38.4 percent from the field and an anemic 6-of-28 (21.4%) from 3-point land. But the Rockets were rescued by their relentless aggression: Houston outrebounded the Wizards 46-41 overall and 16-10 on the offensive glass, leading to a whopping 24-8 edge in second-chance points. The Rockets also did well to attack the rim whenever possible – a strategy which resulted in the team taking 28 trips to the charity stripe and, even more importantly, making 24 of them.
“I think we were able to pull out the victory tonight because we were able to play good defense, box out and win the rebounding battle,” said Aaron Brooks. “We need wins like this to make a push.”
QUOTES
RICK ADELMAN
On the game:
“We got two out of three on this trip and it’s good to have Kyle (Lowry) and Trevor (Ariza) back. Our guys did what they had to do to get the win.”
On Luis Scola:
“Luis played over 30 minutes and with players back it gave us a lot of flexibility.”
AARON BROOKS
On the game:
“I think we were able to pull out the victory tonight because we were able to play good defense, box out and win the rebounding battle. We need wins like this to make a push.”
On playing time:
“I felt a lot fresher at the end. Kyle (Lowry) is one of the best backups in the league, so the fact that he was able to come in and play a lot of minutes helped my legs.”
KEVIN MARTIN
On the game:
“At this time of year you don’t want any type of games to slip away. In the past couple of weeks we felt some teams that we should have beat we let slip away. Our mindset is to capitalize on every opportunity.”
On playing better:
“I think we have the motivation to execute better down the stretch, because we had that game on Sunday slip right away from us so we knew what we needed to improve on.”
On Washington:
“Washington is a team that will play hard every night and they are still trying to find their identity. We can’t take a team like that for granted.”
WIZARDS HEAD COACH FLIP SAUNDERS
On Shaun Livingston:
“I thought he did some good things. He got us into an offense. It was the best flow we had in the game during the end of the fourth quarter. It’s the first time he’s played extended minutes. We will see how he reacts tomorrow with his leg, and we will see what we do as far as Thursday.”
On the game:
“Right now, every team we play, they are fighting for that eighth spot. They are a game out. When they come in and play against us, they know that these are big games. They are trying to send messages in the first half. We didn’t get a lot of calls because we were not physical early. We were taking a lot of outside shots and not attacking the rim. To our credit, we kept fighting back and we made some plays and didn’t quit.”
On Nick Young:
“He played with some more energy. What he has got to do now is play with that much energy whether he is making shots or not. Making shots cannot dictate how hard he plays. The only thing that is constant is how hard you play. You do not have a say in whether you make shots or not even though you want to make everyone one. I thought he played with better energy.”
On playing in transition:
“We missed a lot of shots going to the basket early. They just had numbers and their guards had great quickness. What happened really is that their bigs out ran our bigs. That has been the scouting report on JaVale (McGee) and Andray (Blatche). We run up hill on defense and downhill on offense. For some reason, we think our court is tilted. We do not go as fast from offense to defense as we do from defense to offense. Teams are making a conscious effort of really getting out. It is not that they are scoring initially, but they are getting a lot of second chance opportunities and second chance points off of that.”
On the next stretch of games:
“It’s the Rock Star tour. The next five games are against teams that fighting to get to second, third or those types of seeds. Detroit is not, but Atlanta and Orlando are. Then we go on the road to Utah, Denver, Portland and Los Angeles and they are all fighting down the stretch.”
WIZARDS FORWARD ANDRAY BLATCHE
On the game:
“Today was by far the worst game I’ve played in the second half. I started off good; the rims were wide to me and then it just tightened up. We had to play so I keep forcing my shots and the same results kept coming. I tried to make some passes and get my teammates off but it wasn’t going in for them either. I kept trying to fight harder and harder but it just made it worse for me. It was just a bad shooting game for me.”
On his game:
“It was just all me. It wasn’t like they were doing a super double team, I just had a bad shooting night. The rim was tight and the ball kept coming in and out I was shooting air-balls. That was the worst game I had by far. Chuck Hayes is a big strong guy I was trying to back him down but he wasn’t moving. I just have to come to the gym tomorrow and get some shots in.”
WIZARDS GUARD MIKE MILLER
On the game:
“We picked up the energy a little at the end, but we have to find ways to have energy the whole game. We need to be able to get out there and run and play through Dray in the post.”
On Shaun Livingston:
“Shaun is a great player. He has a lot of potential and we know what he is capable of, but it’s just a matter of him getting comfortable with what we’re doing. He creates a big time mismatches.”
On the next three games:
“It should be fun. The bottom line is we have 82 games this year and we have to play with a lot of energy. I have to take care of my body especially when you know you’re going to play five games in six nights.”
WIZARDS GUARD NICK YOUNG
On his game:
“I was just thinking on the bench that I have to come out and be aggressive. I was just being me and trying to get comfortable and playing the game I play, playing with confidence.”
On Shaun Livingston:
“Shaun is a great point guard. He has good vision and he’s starting to get back to normal.”
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