[Playoffs!] A New Age! || GAME 1 OF THE FINALS | Hiatus

[Mark.]

I think you should just trade him back to his home town Orlando. In all seriousness perhaps trade him for Moe Harkless. I know the Magic would want Parsons, and Hark would fit really well as a defensive specialist for you on the wing.

[Martti.]

If I were to trade Parsons, I would want a guy like Kawhi Leonard in return. But I'm not looking to trade him, As long as he's happy, he'll be a Rocket.

[Mark.]

Yeah fair enough. Leonard would be nice, but I don't think he is that much better than Parson's right now. Parson's is potentially the best two way player the Rockets have.

[hova-]

Good job doing the deals. Seems like the new difficulty is showing some effects on you.

[Martti.]

Rockets pull away from Hornets in fourth behind Lin and Parsons

James Harden scored 20 points in the first half and Jeremy Lin had a big fourth quarter with 10 points as the Rockets pulled away in the end against the visiting Hornets for a 19-point win.

The teams entered the game with reversed records and with the Rockets being 9 games above .500, were expected to cruise to a win.

And at the start, it looked like that was going to happen. The Rockets jumped out to 5-0 and 16-6 leads in the first quarter. But with some mistimed substitutions by the Rockets and good guard-play from the Hornets, the visitors came back to trail by just 2 after Xavier Henry's jumper. Jeremy Lin ended the quarter with a buzzer-beating jumper from the foul line, giving Houston a 4-point lead

In the second quarter, Eric Gordon made the Rockets defense look silly, getting to the paint with ease. Gordon had 16 points at the half on 6-9 shooting. Also, the Rockets did a very poor job handling the ball with 9 first-half turnovers.

The game was surprisingly close in the third quarter as well. The Rockets did a better by committing just 3 turnovers in the second half. Eric Gordon knocked down a jumper with 3 seconds left to tie the game after three quarters.

The fourth was a whole different story. Jeremy Lin was aggressive, being a playmaker for most of the game. He had a big height advantage on Nate Robinson and took advantage of it. Despite getting blocked twice by the 5'9 PG, Lin was 7-8 on shots he didn't get blocked.

Harden was quiet in the fourth as he was constantly double-teamed. Parsons had 3 big dunks in the fourth quarter and the Rockets held the Hornets to just 3 field goals in the final period.

Key stat of the game was probably the scoring of the Hornets front-line - #1 pick Anthony Davis was scoreless and Ryan Anderson scored 3 points. Davis' only noteworthy play was him getting dunked on by Chandler Parsons.

Box Score

HOU (21-11) | 26 | 26 | 22 | 32 || 106 ||
NOH (11-21) | 22 | 29 | 23 | 13 || 87 ||

Player of the Game : James Harden

| 36 PTS | 4 REBS | 4 ASTS | 1 STLS | 1 BLKS | 14-25 FG | 4-10 3 PT FG | 4-4 FT



Chandler Parsons : 20 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, 10-19 FG
Jeremey Lin : 18 points, 7 assists, 3 steals, 7-10 FG, 4-6 FT
Omer Asik : 8 points, 9 rebounds
Thomas Robinson : 8 points, 11 rebounds, 3-4 FG
Shaun Livingston : 6 points, 2 rebounds, 3 rebounds, 3-6 FG



Eric Gordon : 27 points, 4 steals, 11-20 FG, 5-5 FT
Nate Robinson : 18 points, 8 assists, 2 blocks, 7-18 FG
Al-Farouq Aminu : 11 points, 6 rebounds
Xavier Henry : 10 points, 5-7 FG

[Mark.]

Great game by Parsons there Good to avoid any potential upset.

[SuperHueyNewton]

Harden scored a lot, but Parson may have had the best game

[Martti.]

I really made an effort to get Parsons going early. He had the first 6 points for me.

[hova-]

RL-like performance by Parsons, I really like him. Good job to stay at almost 66%.

[Valor]

Lin was 7-8 on shots he didn't get blocked.

Somehow I find this line really funny

Great win

[Axel The Great]

Nice to see Parsons step it up, and no surprise to see those numbers from Harden. Hornets really had no business keeping the game that close, but man that defense in the 4th quarter! LOL at Anthony Davis.

[Durant35]

Wow. Outscoring them in the 4th is too much! 32-13 isn't just fair. Anyways, good win!

[Martti.]

Rockets blow out Bucks as Harden drops 40

The Milwaukee Bucks have been involved in a lot of trades this season, bringing in guys like Jeff Green, Royce White and JJ Redick. However, chemistry is still low as proved by a 30-point home loss to the Rockets.

The game was a blow-out from the start as the Rockets quickly grabbed a 7-0 lead and the game never got closer then that.

James Harden was scoring with ease, Jeremy Lin was harassing the Bucks guards with stellar defense, Larry Sanders seemed to grab every possible rebound and Chandler Parsons was catching lobs.

The new additions each scored 2 points (Green, Redick, White) and the new starting C Gustavo Ayon, who has averaged 11 points and 7 rebounds since moving to the starting spot, was also held to just 2 points. Larry Sanders outplayed every big on the opposing team in just 19 minutes.

After the game, rumors started speculating that the Bucks may be ready to trigger another deal, this involving Knicks PG Jason Kidd.

Box Score

HOU (22-11) | 31 | 24 | 32 | 26 || 113 ||
MIL (14-17) | 17 | 21 | 23 | 22 || 83 ||

Player of the Game : James Harden

| 40 PTS | 3 REBS | 3 ASTS | 1 STLS | 0 BLKS | 17-27 FG | 5-9 3 PT FG | 1-1 FT



Jeremey Lin : 19 points, 16 assists, 6 steals, 7-12 FG, 5-5 FT
Carlos Delfino : 12 points, 2 blocks
Chandler Parsons : 11 points, 10 rebounds
Thomas Robinson : 10 points, 7 rebounds, 5-6 FG
Larry Sanders : 7 points, 12 rebounds, 3 blocks



Monta Ellis : 19 points, 5 assists, 2 steals
Brandon Jennings : 12 points, 4-17 FG
Drew Gooden : 11 points, 7 rebounds, 5-6 FG
Luc Mbah a Moute : 11 points, 4 rebounds

[Fresh8]

Mark ain't gonna be happy about JJ.

[Valor]

Bucks get destroyed, good job

[Mark.]

Nah, this game was a lie. JJ doesn't score only 2 points.

[Martti.]

It was odd, he wasn't aggressive at all. Didn't come off screens, didn't create for others. I think he had 2 or 3 shots in 20 minutes or so.

[Mark.]

I am sickened

[Valor]

I am sickened

+1

[Martti.]

Robinson has best scoring game as a Rocket, helps Rockets roll past Celtics

Thomas Robinson has been pretty consistent as the Rockets starting power forward. The #5 overall pick has had 4 double-doubles so far and has averaged 9 points and 7 rebounds. Robinson has been told to be more aggressive and he was against the Celtics.

He had 14 points in the first half on 7/8 shooting with 5 rebounds. He played well off the pick-and-roll with James Harden, who had 12 assists in the game.

Harden was guarded by Avery Bradley, a great defender, but the league's leading scorer saw that as another challenge. Jeremy Lin and Omer Asik were not factors offensively as they had their hands full of Rajon Rondo and Kevin Garnett.

The Rockets held the Celtics to 40% shooting, who fell to .500.

Box Score

HOU (25-12) | 21 | 27 | 31 | 23 || 102 ||
BOS (18-18) | 19 | 22 | 23 | 18 || 82 ||

Player of the Game : James Harden

| 32 PTS | 7 REBS | 12 ASTS | 0 STLS | 0 BLKS | 13-25 FG | 2-9 3 PT FG | 4-4 FT



Thomas Robinson : 21 points, 9 rebounds, 10-15 FG
Chandler Parsons : 17 points, 9 rebounds, 8-11 FG
Larry Sanders : 11 points, 7 rebounds, 4 blocks
Carlos Delfino : 11 points
Jeremey Lin : 8 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 steals, 3 blocks, 2-8 FG



Rajon Rondo : 17 points, 7 assists, 8-16 FG
Avery Bradley : 14 points, 6-9 FG
Brandon Bass : 13 points, 4 rebounds
Jason Terry : 10 points
Paul Pierce : 10 points, 4 rebounds, 4-19 FG
Kevin Garnett : 4 points, 6 rebounds

[SuperHueyNewton]

Great game for T-Rob. It would be cool to see how his head is after a trade in his rookie season.

Also, I think 2K underrated Boston this year, they struggle mightily throughout the season, heck in my 2k13, they're a lottery team.

[Martti.]

Boston really wasn't what I was expecting, especially on their home floor.

[Martti.]

Robinson out-hustles The Manimal, helps Rockets break out of slump

After a very hot start by the Rockets, being 11-2 out of the gate and 25-12 in mid-January, the Rockets hit a slump after a road win @ Philadelphia

They've gone on to lose 8 out of 9, with losses to the Clippers, Nets, Jazz and Bobcats to name a few. The only win in that stretch was against Denver, beating them by 3 after Chandler Parsons made a game-winning three with 1.3 on the clock.

January has been a very odd month for the young Rockets, as they started the month 6-1 and 1-8 to finish. The game @ Denver could at least give some peace to the Rockets.

James Harden and Thomas Robinson seemed to be on a different level then any other player on the court in the first half. Harden scored with just 4 seconds gone by, making first of his 7 threes. Thomas Robinson seemed to be all over the boards.

Both had 18 points in the first half, Robinson also had 8 rebounds. Combined, they were 14-22 from the field, giving the Rockets a 15 point lead at the half.

The second half was a different story. Despite the continued excellence of Robinson and Harden, the Nuggets came back in a hurry with their up-tempo style.

Jeremy Lin and Chandler Parsons had been struggling, Lin missed his first 10 shots from the field. In the middle of the fourth quarter, Lin's struggles paired with almost no bench production, the Nuggets were down by just 2.

Harden re-entered the game, but was double-teamed on every touch. Luckily, Jeremy Lin scored all of his 6 points in the final 5 minutes of the game. James Harden added 16 points in the fourth quarter, racking up 44, a new career-high.

Box Score

HOU (28-20) | 31 | 23 | 25 | 24 || 103 ||
DEN (25-22) | 17 | 22 | 26 | 31 || 96 ||

Player of the Game : James Harden

| 44 PTS | 5 REBS | 5 ASTS | 1 STLS | 0 BLKS | 14-24 FG | 7-14 3 PT FG | 9-9 FT



Thomas Robinson : 32 points, 11 rebounds (6 off), 14-20 FG, 4-7 FT
Chandler Parsons : 10 points, 9 rebounds, 4-13 FG
Jeremey Lin : 6 points, 3 rebounds, 9 assists, 3 steals, 2-14 FG, 0-3 3PT
Omer Asik : 9 rebounds



Andre Iguodala : 26 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals, 2 blocks, 10-21 FG, 2-3 3PT
Kenneth Faried : 19 points, 11 rebounds, 9-12 FG
Ty Lawson : 12 points, 4 rebounds, 11 assists, 6-10 FG
Al Harrington : 10 points, 4 rebounds
Javale McGee : 10 points, 9 rebounds
Wilson Chandler : 10 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals

[Valor]

Thomas Robinson

You got the Nuggets with the Celtics logo though

[Martti.]

Well spotted, thanks.