No Harden, No Lin, No Asik, No Problem Rockets beat Pistons 114-97

[Note by Xiane, 12/21/13 8:39 PM CST ] This is a bit of a place holder recap.  A more in depth one will follow late tonight, so that's an excellent reason to stay up drinking egg nog.

On a road back to back less than 24 hours after a shellacking at the hands of the Indiana Pacers the Houston Rockets came into Detroit down 60% of last years starting roster.  Fortunately the Rockets added an unheralded free agent who left the storied Los Angeles Lakers after only one contentious year.

Yes, stealth signing Dwight Howard came up big in this game as he has in so many games lately.  Dwight might not have quite the same leaping ability he did as a 24 year old in Orlando, but the strength, quickness and general explosiveness are back.  You can see his confidence growing with every game.

Watching Dwight lately makes me wonder if the posting stuff he was wanting to do was really a function of not trusting his quickness and explosive first step.  You don't need either, really, to post up.  Yes, he's still getting the ball in the post, but his attacks are very different than the robotic over the shoulder -dribble-turnover or shot hooks he was trying earlier.

35ots, 19rbs, 5ast, 3blk, 1stl on a road B2B - that's a superstar center, Rockets fans.

Chandler Parsons (the Luol Deng of the Rockets) played 43 minutes, but chipped in a robust 20pts on 9/15 shooting.

Francisco Garcia added a helpful 16 points in a start, but also might have made Rockets fans worry that we have no classic two guard as a backup to Harden.  Perhaps Morey could make some Christmas wishes come true and pry Will Barton from the Trailblazers.

Patrick Beverley kept both his assist and turnover numbers down, but he's tougher to play with neither James Harden nor Jeremy Lin in the lineup.

Terrence Jones had a "quiet night" in the shadow of Howard's monster game.

Anyhow, it was a group effort and great way to get the bad taste of the Nationally Televised Beatdown out of our mouths.