What a difference a halftime break makes. During the back-and-forth Rockets-Thunder game, it was a Tale of Two Cities Halves with the Rockets putting up 73 points in the first half, before managing just 19 — 19!!! — in the second half, as the Thunder stormed back for a 104-92 win. Think about that for a moment. The Rockets put up 73 on the third-ranked defense in the league, then only managed 19 in the second half. It was the largest discrepancy between halves in the history of the NBA.
Only the 2001 Sonics (RIP), managed to score more than 70 points in one half before managing less than 25 in the second half, but even they couldn’t compete against the schizophrenic Rockets, who were 12-for-20 from deep in the first half and 0-for-14 beyond the arc in that disastrous second half.
Here are their shot charts between halves:
As Daily Thunder’s Royce Young points out, it was the same basket that handled all those bricks:
One basket had 18-of-30 3-pointers made on it. The other basket had 0-of-29 3-pointers made on it.
— Royce Young (@royceyoung) January 17, 2014
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
The simultaneous reaction of OKC’s Steven Adams and Dwight Howard pretty much summed up the feelings of Rockets fans:
While Kevin Durant‘s audible “Get off me b____” came in the first quarter, it’s a nice way to explain OKC’s dominance in the second half, too.
//platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
It was just a crazy difference between halves, and while Chuck, Kenny, Shaq and Ernie debated whether Dwight Howard will ever be a franchise player — this has been an “Inside the NBA” trope since time immemorial — we blame the entire Rockets team for losing focus during the bipolar game, not just D-12.
Shaq and Chuck have been saying the exact same thing about Dwight every Thursday night for like 3 years now. #Tradition
— Andrew Sharp (@andrewsharp) January 17, 2014
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Aside from the differences between the halves, it was a big win for a Thunder team trying to hold near the top of the Western Conference until Russ comes back some time after the All-Star game in February.
KD had 36 — going to the line to hit 18-of-20 free throws, Serge Ibaka had 21 points, 15 boards and five blocks and Reggie Jackson was 11-for-18 for 23 points in the win. The Rockets had six players in double-figures, but none cracked the 20-point plateau, and five of them had already managed double-figures in that first half before disappearing in the third and fourth quarters.
[thanks to reddit/r/NBA for the SB Nation GIF and Vine of KD]
What do you think?
Follow Spencer on Twitter at @countcenci.
Follow Dime on Twitter at @DimeMag.
Become a fan of Dime Magazine on Facebook HERE.
