Jonathan Feigen delivered a winner during the fourth quarter of tonight's 102-99 win over Indiana.
Rockets, 1-6, have led in final six minutes of every game this season, up 1 with 4:19 left.
And they pulled it out. Somehow, someway. If there's any evidence that the Rockets could use a "closer," here it is. But tonight, despite a GODAWFUL shot from Kyle Lowry in crunch time, the Rockets snagged themselves a win.
This will be a short recap, but a few thoughts of mine to take away from the 'W:'
1. Kevin Martin hit two giant shots as the seconds ticked away in the fourth quarter, but he didn't create them. Just saying.
2. Kyle Lowry, despite that GODAWFUL jumper, played really well. His defense stifled the opponent in the second half, and I thought he ran the offense very effectively, especially in the half-court. He certainly contributed to Brad Miller's eruption.
3. Bradley Miller went all B-Mills on the Pacer defense, especially from three-point range. Did not see that coming.
4. Luis Scola got burned by James Posey in the third quarter and was subsequently yanked by Rick Adelman late in the game. Somehow, the Rockets couldn't get a hand in Posey's face, even after he had already made two wide-open threes. So bringing Scola out perhaps did the trick, though I'm not sure why Luis Scola was guarding James Posey in the first place.
5. Let's hope Chase Budinger is OK. He got carried off after that skirmish underneath the basket in the fourth. And yes, it was a skirmish. That was straight Euroball.
6. The Rockets missed eight free throws and had 15 turnovers, though I will point out that only three of those turnovers came in the second half. So, that's nice.
7. Tonight just wasn't Ish Smith's night.
8. Courtney Lee looks lost, still. He needs more time.
9. Roy Hibbert did what Roy Hibbert can do against undersized teams, but I'll give a tip of the hat to the Rockets defense for keeping good tabs on Danny Granger. He went 7-18 from the field in 1-6 from three. Nice job, fellas.