Rockets jump out early, hold off late Phoenix Suns rally: By the Numbers

Both the Houston Rockets and the Phoenix Suns were coming off no days rest as they faced each other Saturday night at the Toyota Center.

The Suns just had to travel a couple hundred miles from Dallas to Houston, while the Rockets played Friday night all the way in Minnesota — even going to overtime.

Even though both clubs were on fairly equal footing, rest-wise, Houston looked like it had the fresher legs, at least early on.

Without starters Dwight Howard and Terrence Jones, the Rockets managed to jump out a 17-point lead at the end of the first quarter, and they kept the Suns at a double-digit distance for the brunt of the game.

Phoenix, however, never completely let the game get out of hand, and the visitors even made a late comeback attempt to put the home crowd on edge.

Ultimately, the Rockets never relinquished the lead, holding Phoenix of by a final of 100-95. Kevin McHale’s squad improved to 16-4 with the win, tied for third-best in the Western Conference.

With a two-game winning streak snapped, Phoenix fell to 6-4 on the road and 12-9 overall.

Here’s a look at Saturday’s contest, by the numbers:

1

On the last play of the third quarter, Suns big man Alex Len made his first NBA three-pointer, and it came from the left corner. The second-year center finished with nine points on 2-of-4 shooting with two blocks and one rebound in 17 minutes of action.

4-23

The Rockets converged on Markieff Morris early, double-teaming him and forcing him into poor shots. He finished just an anemic 2-for-14 from the field for four points, although he did contribute in other ways, such as seven rebounds, two assists and two steals. His brother, Marcus, also shot poorly in Houston, going 2-for-9 and finishing with six points. Together, the brothers were just 4-for-23 from the field.

5-8

Through the first three and a half quarters, every time the Suns appeared to be starting a run, Houston would send the visitors reeling with a big three-pointers or two. Point guard Patrick Beverley made several such momentum-killers. He went 5-for-8 from downtown and finished with 19 points; his only successful field goals Saturday were all three-pointers. Overall, Houston shot 11-for-27 from behind the long line, good for a percentage of 40.7.

8

The Suns finished with fewer than 100 points for the eighth time this season, and their record is just 2-6 when that happens.

22

The Rockets’ biggest lead of the night was 22, and they led from wire to wire. After the first quarter, the closest the Suns would get it was four, which happened with 21 seconds left in the fourth.

23

Suns guard Eric Bledsoe didn’t have a stellar shooting night (7-for-17), but he keyed the Suns’ late comeback attempt. The second-year Sun finished with a game-high 23 points, and he added three assists, four rebounds, three blocks and three steals.

36.6%

The Suns overall had one of their worst shooting nights of the season, making just 34 buckets on 93 attempts, a shooting percentage of 36.6. The Rockets weren’t entirely better, putting in 33-of-81 shots for a 40.7 percentage.

47

The Suns are roughly a quarter of the way through the season, and they’re on pace to win about 47 games, which would be one behind their total from last year.

57-40

Houston slaughtered Phoenix 57-40 on the boards, although the home team had just a 19-16 advantage in offensive rebounds.