Rockets Beat Cavaliers in Last-Minute Thriller

The Houston Rockets defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers, handing them their third loss at home this season. Amen Thompson secured his third career triple-double.

Houston and Cleveland both started this game uber-physical. The Cavaliers were able to start off on a six-point lead before the Rockets came back to make the score 13-12 before a timeout was called by Cleveland. Spacing and ball movement were key off-ball screens, leading to two big threes from Fred Vanvleet before the break. To end the quarter, Ime Udoka put in a defensive-minded lineup consisting of Amen Thompson, Cam Whitmore, Dillon Brooks, Tari Eason, and Steven Adams to extend their lead before the break between periods. They immediately caused a Cleveland turnover, and Brooks converted it into a deep two-pointer to help the Rockets go up 33-27.

The Rockets gained a 10-point lead early in the second quarter. Adams continued to do the dirty work in the paint like he was doing in the first 12 minutes to help Houston gain the lead. As soon as Adams was taken out of the game, Houston felt the center's defensive aggressivness and offensive rebounding as Cleveland was able to cut the lead down to three points. Brooks and Jalen Green were able to help Houston get back to a 10-point lead. Brooks had five points in the stretch. Green continued to make the lead larger after he made an and-one free throw after a three-pointer as the Rockets went up by 16 points. Houston ended the half up 68-54.

Houston's aggressiveness was the key in the first half to gaining a 14-point lead. The Rockets attacked the Cavaliers' big men, Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley, scoring 34 points in the paint compared to Cleveland's 28. Green led the way for Houston, scoring 16 points on 5-for-9 field goals in the half. Houston shot 58.7% from the field and 53.8% from three in the half. The Cavaliers shot 48.8% from the field and 46.2% from three. Brooks had 13 points in the first 24 minutes.

Alperen Sengun started the second half off for the Rockets just as aggressively as they were in the first half. He attacked Jarrett Allen in the paint and scored. Thompson also showed this same aggression to start the period. The forward blocked Mobley and then got a rebound off of him a few possessions later. Segun had nine points from the start of the third quarter up until Cleveland called the first timeout of the half.

Donovan Mitchell went on an offensive heater after not scoring since the first 90 seconds of the game, leading the Cavaliers to just a nine-point deficit. Darius Garland hit two threes after a timeout to make their deficit just five. After getting into the bonus early in the period and being down just six, the Cavaliers defaulted to intentionally fouling Adams when checked in for Houston with just under three minutes left in the third quarter. Tate rebounded a missed free throw by Thompson and passed it out to Green for three to extend Houston's lead to 13. Green made a three to give Houston its biggest lead of the game of 19 points just before Mobley put back a missed Mitchell layup to end the period.

In the middle of the fourth quarter, the Cavaliers started running a 2-3 zone defense to try and stop Houston's rolling offense. The Rockets were able to execute their offense against the zone and their ball movement showed it. VanVleet got an open look for three, and Udoka set up a zone break play consisting of a middle-of-the-lane pass to Thompson, a pass back out to VanVleet, that then led to an emphatic dunk from Eason driving from the left wing. Cleveland transitioned back into a man after the zone wasn't working, and they started to contain Houston's offense.

Cleveland was able to cut the lead down to just four points with just over four minutes to go left in the game after being outscored 33-20 during this time in the period. VanVleet hit a big three to extend Houston's lead to seven off of an assist from Thompson. This secured Thompson's second triple-double of his career.

Mitchell made a layup to cut the lead down to just two with just over two minutes remaining in the game. Garland then tied the game at the free throw line. After going 2-for-3 from the stripe from Mitchell following a Thompson putback, the Rockets were up by just one point with under one minute left in the game. Thompson got sent to the free throw line and made both shots to put Houston up three. Eason iced the game on a block after two made free throws from VanVleet. Green made two free throws to put Houston up 133-126.

The Rockets face the Boston Celtics on Monday night at TD Garden. Tip-off is set for 6:30 P.M. CST.