By Kyle Soppe
In a divisional match up of playoff hopefuls, the Rockets prevailed 97-93 over the visiting Grizzles. With the victory, the top three teams in the Western Conference’s Southwest division all call Texas home.
The Rockets used a balanced attack, as five players scored between 8-10 points.
Point guard Kyle Lowry continued his break out season, scoring 24 points and handing out nine assists. He recorded 42.9% of the Rockets helpers on this night, and recorded at least nine assists for the fourth time in six games. Lowry made just as many free throws as field goals for the twelfth time this season, and his team was left the arena with a win in nine of those games.
A huge improvement for Lowry this season is his outside shooting. He made just as many threes as the entire Memphis team last night.
Chandler Parsons fired double-digit shots for the fourth time in his last five games. In the 28 games previous, his field goal attempt total reached double figures only six times.
Memphis made seven more two pointers than Houston, but the home team made up for it by outscoring the Grizzles by 16 from elsewhere (three pointers + free throws).
In Kevin Martin’s last two games, he has missed five or fewer field goal attempts, despite playing more than 30 minutes. The previous 18 games this season when playing at least 31 minutes, KMart had missed more than five field goals in every single one.
Patrick Patterson grabbed more rebounds than points scored for the second time in four games. He only accomplished that feat in two of his first 27 games this season.
OJ Mayo continues to settle for outside shots, and last night they weren’t falling. The Memphis guard misfired on all six of his three point attempts, dropping the Grizzles to 4-7 when he doesn’t connect from distance. He has also shot exactly six three pointers in his last four games, making less than 1/3 of them.
Rudy Gay scored 20+ points without making a triple for the seventh time this season. This was the first time his team walked away the loser from one of those games.
Marc Gasol grabbed seven rebounds, the 15th time in 16 games in which he’s recorded at least seven boards. He only managed 11 points, and the Grizzles are now 2-6 when he scores 11 of fewer points. Gasol has 5+ assists in two of his last three games, a number he only managed five times heading into this three game stretch. Also over that three game period, Gasol has made more free throws than field goals in every single game.
Five games on the books for today. Who would you like to see make a Box Score breakdown appearance?
Leave a Reply