Rockets overcome cold shooting as Clint Capela, P.J. Tucker crash glass

Clint Capela and P.J. Tucker combined for 39 rebounds, which helped James Harden and the Rockets overcome a cold shooting night in Atlanta.

Though superstar guard James Harden had his second consecutive 40-point triple double with 41 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists in a 122-115 win (box score) at Atlanta, Wednesday’s game was far from an offensive triumph for the Houston Rockets.

Harden scored 41 points, but he did so on an oddly infficient 9-of-34 shooting (26.5%) overall and 4-of-20 (20%) on 3-pointers. Overall, the Rockets made just 13-of-45 (28.9%) of their 3-pointers as a team.

It’s the third consecutive win for the Rockets (25-11) and their fourth in five games, but they had to hold on down the stretch as Atlanta climbed back from a 23-point deficit in the first half to come as close to three points in the fourth and final quarter.

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There were some extenuating circumstances with backcourt co-star Russell Westbrook, who sat out for planned maintenance on the front end of a back-to-back sequence of games.

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Even so, it was an underwhelming offensive performance by the Rockets (25-11) against Atlanta (8-30), who appeared overmatched on paper. They also got worse as the game moved along, scoring just 45 points in the second half after posting 77 in the first.

How did they overcome that type of showing on the road?

In large part, they did it with defensive effort and rebounding — led by veteran frontcourt starters Clint Capela and P.J. Tucker.

Capela had 22 points and a team-high 22 rebounds, while Tucker had 8 points and 17 rebounds. Between them, they combined for 39 of Houston’s 59 rebounds — helping the Rockets out-rebound a longer and more athletic Hawks squad, 59-54.

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Entering Wednesday, the Rockets were No. 5 in the NBA in rebounds at 47.1 per game — up from No. 28 a season ago. While the offseason swap of Chris Paul for Westbrook has helped matters, Capela and Tucker were dominant enough in Wednesday’s victory at Atlanta for Houston to still win the battle on the glass without Westbrook.

Capela, who ranks second in the NBA in rebounding behind Detroit’s Andre Drummond at more than 14 per game, now has eight games of 20 or more rebounds this season. Prior to this season, he had seven of those games in the first five years (295) games of his NBA career combined.

In addition to his 17 rebounds and his routinely strong perimeter defense, Tucker drew a key charge late in the fourth quarter with the game close.

With Westbrook back on the court, the Rockets will aim to build on their rebounding success in Thursday’s game at Oklahoma City. It’ll be an emotional game, with the former MVP and eight-time All-Star returning to his former home for the first time after 11 years with the franchise.

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