Rockets get third-straight win with 107-88 victory over Wizards

The Houston Rockets win the matchup of the traded players with a 107-88 win over the Washington Wizards in Houston on Tuesday night.

Despite some really good team play in the first quarter, the Rockets had to overcome an early deficit. Houston couldn’t find their shot to start the game, going down 9-3 early.

But the team would eventually click and find their stroke from behind the arc. Every single Rocket but P.J. Tucker scored in the first quarter, with former college teammates John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins leading the way with seven and five points respectively.

Houston would end the quarter down only three points, 29-26.

John Wall followed up his strong first quarter with a great second quarter. Despite going 0-4 from deep, Wall still poured in 15 points in the half on 6-12 shooting from the field and 3-3 from the free-throw line.

Wall looked like vintage Wall in more ways than one.

The Rockets controlled the second quarter from beginning to end, jumping out to a 16-6 run from the very beginning and outscored the Wizards 30-23 in the second. Houston would have had a larger lead if they had any control on the boards. Washington outrebounded them by them 29-16 in the half, including grabbing a crucial 10 offensive rebounds to only four Houston offensive boards.

The home team would go into halftime with a 56-52 lead.

Houston followed up a great second quarter with an absolutely clunker of a third. Actually, both teams were terrible, with the Rockets and the Wizards scoring only 19 and 18 points total in the quarter, respectively.

Neither team had scored at least their third point of the quarter until 7:57 was left in the period. Houston still stumbled into the fourth with a 75-70 lead.

The fourth quarter wound up being the Rockets’ best one of the game. The Rockets dropped 32 in the fourth, while the Wizards matched their third quarter with another sputtering 18 points.

John Wall got back at his former team with a team-high 24 points and five assists on 9-21 shooting and in only 24 minutes. DeMarcus Cousins had 19 points, 11 rebounds, and four steals on 6-11 shooting from the field, 4-8 from deep. Victor Oladipo and Eric Gordon each had 20 points of their own.

Russell Westbrook didn’t exactly get the game he wanted against his former club, scoring 19 points to go along with 11 rebounds and seven assists on 7-17 shooting, and six turnovers. Bradley Beal willed his way to 33 points, leading all scorers in the game, on 12-28 shooting, 8-8 from the free-throw line.

Houston cruised past Washington from deep, knocking 12 of their 37 attempts to the Wizards’ five makes on 26 shots. The Rockets also made a great halftime adjustment on the boards and outrebounded the Wizards 28-20 after losing that matchup in the first half.

The Rockets’ new backcourt duo also shared this magical moment as they closed out the Wizards.

John Wall was loving it.

The Rockets are now trending upward, notching their third-straight win — their longest streak of the season. Houston will get a day of rest before hosting the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday.