The NBA schedule-makers did not allow the Houston Rockets to ease into this season.
With their 121-114 road victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday, the Rockets remained unbeaten to start the campaign, winning for the third time in four nights. They had opened their schedule with a home triumph Wednesday over the Dallas Mavericks and a road win against the San Antonio Spurs on Friday in the first game of a back-to-back.
The Rockets will host the Hawks to conclude a home-and-home on Monday, emboldened by their strong start.
“Guys don’t care about the circumstances or who’s available,” Rockets coach Ime Udoka said. “It’s a group that’s confident with whoever’s out on the court.”
Guard Reed Sheppard was integral in the victory over the Hawks. He posted 19 points (on 5-of-11 3-point shooting), seven assists, six rebounds and two steals while making a spot start for veteran guard Fred VanVleet, who missed last season following preseason knee surgery and sat out the second game of the back-to-back.
Reserve center Steven Adams (calf) also sat against the Hawks, as did veteran guard Marcus Smart (forearm), leaving the Rockets’ rotation compromised.
However, one of the Rockets’ strengths entering this season was their depth, and that quality was on display in Atlanta. Sheppard thrived as a starter, and Bogdan Bogdanovic tallied 11 points in 20 minutes off the bench while helping fill the void of Smart’s absence.
With three members of their rotation unavailable, the Rockets ably shifted on the fly.
“Just stick to what we know,” Sheppard said. “We’ve got the guys to do it. That’s the good thing about this team is we’ve got a lot of guys that can play when people don’t play, and just going out there and being aggressive and playing the right way and playing together.”
Adams was ruled out for Monday, while Smart was deemed questionable and VanVleet did not appear on Houston’s injury report.
The Hawks also played the second game of a back-to-back, and their shooting woes contributed to the Rockets establishing a 20-point lead that enabled them to withstand a late Atlanta run.
The Hawks missed 36 of 49 3-pointers. Point forward Jalen Johnson was outstanding (26 points, 16 assists and nine rebounds), but the backcourt tandem of CJ McCollum (17 points) and Nickeil Alexander-Walker (18) finished 5 of 17 from behind the arc.
Yet, despite trailing 111-93 with 5:43 remaining, the Hawks closed to within five points with 36.5 seconds left to play. The Hawks’ determined effort almost fueled a remarkable comeback victory.
“The biggest takeaway is that we kept playing,” Hawks coach Quin Snyder said. “Obviously we need to be better in a lot of facets of the game, but the fact that we weren’t making shots and we continued to play and then got back into the game (was encouraging). I think it would have been easy to fold at a certain point, and we didn’t do that, which is a good thing.
“We’ve talked consistently about trying to become the best version of ourselves, and these are the types of games that give you the opportunity to do that if you take advantage of it. That’s where we are right now, and we play them again (on Monday).”
