Rockets at Knicks
James Harden and the Houston Rockets are midway through a tough eight-game opening stretch and continue a five-game road excursion when they face the New York Knicks on Wednesday. Houston only plays one of its first eight games at home and suffered a 128-120 road loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers in Tuesday’s opener of the trek.
Harden scored a season-high 41 points and added 15 assists in the loss against Cleveland and is averaging 32.3 points and 11.8 assists. First-year Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni will surely be hoping for a winning effort at Madison Square Garden after compiling a 121-167 regular-season record with the Knicks from 2008-12 before being fired midway through his final season. New York is in the process of adjusting to first-year coach Jeff Hornacek’s system and the squad went scoreless over the final 5:40 of Tuesday’s 102-89 loss to the Detroit Pistons. “At the beginning of the game, a lot of the focus was on the offense,” Hornacek said afterward. “I thought they played well the second half and maybe that took a certain amount of conditioning on offense and defense. ... We just looked like we ran out of gas at the end.”
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, ROOT (Houston), MSG (New York)
ABOUT THE ROCKETS (2-2): Harden has been a big-time force through the first four games as D’Antoni’s offensive system is proving to be much to his liking. He knocked down five of Houston’s 17 3-pointers against Cleveland while forward Ryan Anderson and Eric Gordon also had the range by knocking down four apiece. Not surprisingly, Houston’s defense has been uneven – allowing an average of 95 points in two victories and 124 in the two defeats.
ABOUT THE KNICKS (1-2): Forward Carmelo Anthony had 24 points and point guard Derrick Rose tallied 19 in an outing in which New York scored just 10 points of 5-of-21 shooting in the final stanza. “It just didn’t go down but when the shots aren’t falling, that’s when we have to depend on our defense even more,” Rose said afterward. “We’re playing against tough teams and we have to come out and compete on the defensive end, especially when we’re not making shots.” Rose is averaging 16.3 points in his first three games with the club after being obtained in the offseason from the Chicago Bulls.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Rockets have won 12 of the past 13 meetings.
2. New York C Joakim Noah is averaging 11 rebounds and 7.5 assists over the past two games.
3. Houston F Trevor Ariza (cut under right eye) received five stitches during Tuesday’s game and is questionable to play against the Knicks.