PORTLAND — Early in the third quarter, it looked like the Trail Blazers had yet another beatdown of the Houston Rockets on the way.
But sensing a playoff tiebreaker and perhaps a season on the line, James Harden, Dwight Howard and the Rockets reminded of just how good they can be.
Harden scored 46 points, matching a season high and Howard had 19 points and 13 rebounds as the Rockets defeated Portland 119-105, coming back from a 21-point deficit.
“To Houston’s credit, they really got into us defensively, made it difficult in the fourth quarter,” Blazers coach Terry Stotts said. “But we didn’t do what we needed to do defensively, particularly giving up 70 points in the second half.”
The “M-V-P” chants came down for Damian Lillard Thursday night in the first half, but the cheers were a sign of things to come: a premature celebration.
After the Blazers opened up a 21-point lead, the Blazers looked like they were in control.
But then they missed a few shots and the Rockets started attacking the offensive glass. Then a Lillard turnover. Then CJ McCollum fouled Trevor Ariza on a 3-pointer.
That brief period was a microcosm of the collapse to come.
The Blazers had 13 turnovers in the second half while Harden scored 34 of his 46 points in the second half.
While the Blazers had been living in something of a dream world for the past few weeks, Thursday was a night where reality struck back.
“It’s certainly disappointing to let that one get away,” Stotts said. “I thought the turning point was in the third quarter when we had a sizable lead and their offensive rebounds, they scored 13 points in the third quarter just off second-chance points. We had a chance to not give them the life that they got at the end of the third quarter.”
“They made their run but we didn’t do a good enough job of handling it,” Lillard said.
“We kind of let up a little bit defensively,” Moe Harkless said. “They executed really well, made some tough shots. They turned up their intensity defensively. We didn’t match that. We have to learn from that.”
The Rockets got some life off the bench from veteran Jason Terry who poured in six points off the bench in the third quarter before Harden caught fire, scoring 15 of his 46 points to help cut the Blazers lead to six going into the final period.
The Beard scored his 12th, 13th and 14th consecutive points to start the 4th quarter.
And the Blazers were discombobulated in the face of increased defensive pressure from the Rockets.
“We just didn’t get stops,” CJ McCollum said. “We didn’t get back in transition, we didn’t get back in transition, we didn’t do a lot of things well defensively. Offensively heading into the 4th quarter we were stagnant. We were terrible.”
The Blazers entered Thursday’s TNT-televised tilt with playoff implications with the longest-running win streak in the league while the Rockets were fresh off a demoralizing overtime loss to the Jazz.
Given the way the Blazers handled the Rockets in two meetings earlier this month and the stakes of the game, a playoff-type atmosphere was to be expected.
The Rockets changed things up with their defensive match-ups in playoff fashion, starting the 6-foot-10 Trevor Ariza on Lillard while putting Lillard’s nemesis Patrick Beverley on McCollum.
By games end, Ariza was on Lillard and 6-9 Corey Brewer guarded McCollum.
They ferociously denied the dynamic duo the ball, limiting them to a mortal performance, combining for 43 points on 15-of-39 shooting.
It started out so well for the home team with a 34-point first quarter, which was capped off by a 38-foot buzzer beater by Moe Harkless, giving them a six-point lead.
They would only expand the lead after Lillard gave the keys to McCollum for his regular run to start the second quarter.
Without Howard in the game, the Rockets didn’t have the human delete button for their mistakes, they began hemorrhaging points.
And Stotts also continued his mad scientist routine with regards to the Blazers rotation, showing a 10-man attack for the third straight game.
He brought in Meyers Leonard as a change of pace against Howard, Portland a bigger body on the block while providing a threat in his shooting.
In their quest to hide Harden, he ended up on Leonard for a few possessions, the first of which resulted in an open Leonard 3-pointer.
The Blazers lead 64-49 at halftime.
