Houston’s Threes Left the Thunder’s Paint Advantage Exposed

Houston’s advantage from the 3-point line was larger than the final margin. The Rockets made 18 threes to Oklahoma City’s 10 in a 119-98 victory Saturday at Toyota Center, collecting a 24-point edge from outside in a game they won by 21. The Thunder found useful answers closer to the basket. They needed considerably more of them.

Former Texas A&M guard Alex Caruso was inactive for Oklahoma City, as were Cason Wallace and Jalen Williams. That left the Thunder without several familiar options, but Houston deserves credit beyond the names missing from the opposing lineup. Jabari Smith Jr. and Marcus Smart combined for 54 points and 13 made threes.

They supplied enough scoring to make a respectable Oklahoma City possession look like an insufficient reply.

Smith finished with 30 points, nine rebounds and five assists. His six threes came on 12 attempts, part of a 10-for-18 shooting night. Smart made seven of his 10 tries from beyond the arc and scored 24.

Houston did not need Kevin Durant to carry the scoring; his 14 points fit comfortably into an offense receiving so much from those two teammates. That distribution was particularly expensive for the Thunder because their own shooting supplied little relief.

Houston finished the first quarter ahead 35-26, reached halftime up 62-51 and led 92-75 after three. Oklahoma City could still find baskets without making substantial progress toward erasing the deficit. The Rockets added 30 points in the third quarter against the Thunder’s 24, widening a halftime margin that had at least remained within reach.

A comeback needs stops as well as competent scoring, and Oklahoma City never assembled enough of both.

The interior numbers explain why this was not a complete offensive failure by the Thunder. They scored 44 points in the paint to Houston’s 30. Isaiah Hartenstein contributed 10 points and seven rebounds; Aday Mara added seven points and nine boards.

Oklahoma City collected 10 offensive rebounds and finished only two behind Houston in total rebounds, 44-42. There were possessions and interior finishes available. Those strengths simply carried less value than Houston’s extra eight made threes.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander provided the best Thunder scoring, with 26 points on 10-for-20 shooting. He also made three of his six 3-point attempts. His individual efficiency offered a respectable answer to Houston’s scorers, but the team finished 10-for-32 from deep.

Jared McCain scored 10 points while missing all five of his threes; Jaylin Williams missed his three attempts. One productive lead scorer cannot manufacture a perimeter exchange that his teammates are not matching.

Houston had more than its two leading shooters. Tari Eason and Isaiah Crawford made two threes apiece, and Bruce Thornton added one. Alperen Sengun paired nine assists with 16 points and nine rebounds, while Durant supplied four assists.

The Rockets recorded 29 assists against 10 turnovers. Their scoring had several contributors, even though Smith and Smart were responsible for most of the long-range damage. Oklahoma City recorded 20 assists and committed 13 turnovers, leaving it fewer cleanly completed possessions to offset the shooting difference.

The strongest reason to keep the defeat in proportion is Smart’s exceptional shooting. Seven makes in 10 attempts are an enormous return, and a single game cannot establish that Houston will receive that production regularly. Oklahoma City’s paint advantage also gives it something more useful than an excuse: an area in which it actually outscored the opponent.

The Thunder were not helpless everywhere, and the 21-point margin should not erase those successful possessions.

But the result was not a mystery, either. Houston combined extraordinary shooting from Smart with a substantial Smith performance and enough passing and secondary scoring to keep the attack productive. Oklahoma City’s depleted lineup had to answer all of that while its own outside shots kept missing.

Winning the paint by 14 was useful work. Finishing 24 points behind from three left that work insufficient to keep the game close.

Sources

ESPN: final game record and play-by-play

NBA: official final box score

NBA: Alex Caruso biography