The "Small Ball Bullies" Houston Rockets overpowered the helpless Memphis Grizzlies as they displayed full dominance in both ends of the floor from the tip off down to the buzzer with a 28-point lead victory at home, 140-112, Feb 26.
Rockets' Dynamic Duo Russell Westbrook and James Harden shuts down Grizzlies' rising star Ja Morant with only 12 points as they dropped 63 combined points for only three quarters and make the Grizzlies pay for putting a bigger line-up and letting them launch in all parts of the floor with Harden dropping 7 triples and Westbrook posting a near triple-double game stats with 33 points, 9 rebounds, 8 assists, and 4 steals, resulting to the home victory.
Including the match with Grizzlies, The "Small Ball Bullies" are 6-1 against playoff contender teams and 9-2 in the 11 games when they started the small ball strategy.
The "Small Ball Bullies" jump-started to a 7 to nothing run with Harden attacking the paint and a shot in the arc but the Grizzlies tried to march back to the game with Ja Morant creating a space for himself but he was surprised by the help defense of the undersized center of Rockets Robert Covington resulting to a block and fast-break converted by House Jr. on the other end of the floor as the rockets continue to show their power both ends of the floor and with the clock whining down the Rockets ended the quarter with a bang, with Westbrook's kick-out pass to Jeff Green who hit the buzzer-beater triple, 35-17.
Coming off the bench Austin rivers started the 2nd Quarter rally for the Rockets as he scores back to back coming from drives to the paint exposing the hole in the defense of the Grizzlies which the Rockets abused the whole quarter and with the time less than a minute Westbrook closes the half with a breakaway dunk coming from a steal which resulted to 26 point halftime lead, 73-47.
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The Grizzlies tried to come back to the game as they put the ball to the hands of Bigman Jonas Valanciunas who bullied the undersized paint defenders of the Rockets but they failed as the "Small Ball Bullies" bombarded the Bigman and force the Grizzlies to commit 14 forced turnovers the whole game and still hot in the three-point territory as James Harden hit the century mark with 3:20 remaining time in the 3rd and Westbrook drilling a pull up jumper plus a foul to close it with a 23 point lead, 111-88.
Down to the last quarter, the Rockets did not let the Grizzlies to make a comeback as Jeff Green makes a three and comes back down to the defense denying John Konchar in the rim while Austin Rivers crosses the Grizzlies' defense and kicks out to DeMarre Carroll for a triple and then drilling a rainbow shot in the same spot as he tallied 23 points off the bench with 57% Field Goal Percentage beyond the arc as they secure the W at home with a 28 point lead, 140-112.
The Rockets sits at the 4th spot in the Western Conference with only a game behind from the Los Angeles Clippers and will be facing the Boston Celtics next.
