Unable to escape a Heat sort of game, the Rockets had to win Miami's way.
The Rockets don't win games like this, which only partially seemed because they don't play games like that. They had no other way.
The Rockets could not string together made baskets, could not run, only occasionally splashed their way through a string of 3s. With the game on the line, however, they did something they had not all season, shutting down the Heat down the stretch to win without breaking 100 for the first time, 99-90, Monday at Toyota Center.
With the game tied with four minutes left, the Heat made just 1 of 6 shots with a turnover. James Harden nailed a 3-pointer and a baseline jumper and blocked a shot in the final minute. Chris Paul put in a post-up jumper with 38.8 left and had a steal with two minutes remaining.
The Rockets, for all their difficulties along the way, emerged with a three-game sweep of their homestand, this time by winning a rare close game.
It was a struggle. Though the Rockets recovered enough to go from a deficit that reached 14 in the first half to lead, 71-68, heading to the fourth, they were caught very much in Miami's type of game. They were 6-9 in games in which they had trailed by 10 or more points, but Monday was just the third game all season they failed to score 50 in a first half.
Even when they took the lead, the Rockets could get their shooting going consistently or play with enough pace to get their usual scoring going, making just 10 of 24 shots in the third quarter, even while outscoring the Heat, 25-18. Miami worked its offense through much of each shot clock, running the Rockets through the Heat's usual roadblocks of screens, until the Rockets seemed to begin their own possessions back-pedaling.
With the Rockets unable to get their 3-point shooting going, they were stuck in a low-scoring, grind of a game.
The Rockets were 0-3 when scoring fewer than 100 points. The Heat, 7-12 when failing to break 100, had won 12-consecutive games decided by five or fewer points or in overtime.
Unable to separate themselves from the Heat, the Rockets reclaimed the lead on a P.J. Tucker corner 3 and led 86-84 with 5:15 remaining after Paul sent a pick-and-roll pass to Clint Capela for a dunk. That brought Hassan Whiteside, who dominated the opening minutes, in off the bench along with James Johnson, with the Heat going back to them in the paint.
Each scored quickly, but in the final minutes, the Rockets slammed the door and finally pulled away.
Whether the Rockets were afflicted with a devastating Warriors hangover or just a near debilitating lethargy, they began the game doing little defensively to get in Miami's way. Whiteside especially dominated scoring in pick-and-roll and off the dribble as he made his first six shots and 9 of 11 in the first half.
The Heat made 71.4 percent of their first-quarter shots, but even when the Rockets defense arrived, the Rockets struggled to sustain energy. The first half ended with the Heat outworking them to a four-shot possession, grabbing some of those offensive rebounds on the bounce.
The Rockets did make a move to get back into the game. With their defense finally slowing the Heat enough for the Rockets to keep shooting until they found their shots, the Rockets rallied from their 14-point deficit to tie the game. With little else working, Rockets coach Mike D'Antoni went with a small lineup, forcing either Miami center, Bam Adebayo or Whiteside, to chase Ryan Anderson out to the 3-point line.
Anderson rewarded him with three 3-pointers. He had made more than that in a game just once since Dec. 7. The Heat, however, finished the half with three more layups to head to the second half, 50-46, after holding the Rockets to their fewest points in a first half this season.
The Rockets, however, could not complain too much about their shooting, having make enough 3s (8 on 18 attempts) to get going. They had shown only spurts of the energy they would need to match Miami's on a night it had become clear they would need it.
When they found it, they also found a way, even if it was the Heat way.