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Interactive: How the Rockets got to 3-0 — the first halves, the free-throw line and a back-to-back, step by step
Houston has led for 125 of 144 minutes, won every first half and matched its opponents exactly on two-pointers. The Rockets’ 3-0 start in six interactive steps.
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The Houston Rockets are 3-0 for the first time since the 2017-18 season. They beat the Dallas Mavericks 128-110 at Toyota Center on Wednesday, October 21, won 114-110 against the San Antonio Spurs in Austin on Friday and then beat the Atlanta Hawks 121-114 on Saturday, less than a day later and with three regulars out. Houston has scored 121.0 points a game, allowed 111.3 and led for more than 125 of the 144 minutes it has played.
The wins have different heroes. Kevin Durant leads the team at 24.0 points a game, Alperen Sengun took over the fourth quarter in Austin, Amen Thompson has a double-double every night, and Reed Sheppard scored 19 in his first start of the season. What links them is a strange split: both sides have made exactly 88 two-pointers, and Houston’s whole margin has come from threes and free throws.
The interactive below walks through the start in six steps, from the scoreboard to the minutes in front, the first halves, the shooting gap, the big three and the back-to-back. Every number comes from the Game Centers for Mavericks-Rockets, Rockets-Spurs and Rockets-Hawks. Houston hosts Atlanta again on Monday, October 26.
Toyota Center before tip-off. File photo: Victor Araiza / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized.WhyNBA Interactive
Houston at 3-0: how the Rockets built it
Three wins by a combined 29 points, two of them on the road and one on almost no sleep. Here is the start in six steps: the scoreboard, the minutes in front, the first halves, the shooting gap, the big three and the back-to-back.
Toyota Center before tip-off. File photo: Victor Araiza / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized.Step 1
Three games, three wins, plus 29
Houston opened at home on Wednesday and beat Dallas 128-110. Two nights later it won 114-110 at San Antonio in Austin. Less than 24 hours after that, it beat Atlanta 121-114 at State Farm Arena.
Across the three nights the Rockets scored 363 points and allowed 334. It is their first 3-0 start since the 2017-18 season.
- Vs. Mavericks: won 128-110
- At Spurs, in Austin: won 114-110
- At Hawks: won 121-114
121.0points per game scored
111.3points per game allowed
+29total point margin
Step 2
In front for 125 of 144 minutes
Houston has barely trailed. It led Dallas for 40 minutes and 29 seconds, San Antonio for 42:45 and Atlanta for 42:07. That is 125 minutes and 21 seconds in front, about 87 percent of the game clock.
The opponents’ biggest leads were five points, one point and seven points. The Rockets’ own biggest leads were 37, 11 and 20.
Time in the lead, of 48 minutes
87%percent of minutes in the lead
37biggest lead, vs. Dallas
7largest deficit of the week
Step 3
The first halves decide it
The Rockets have won every first half: 70-38 against Dallas, 61-59 in Austin and 59-48 in Atlanta. Add them up and Houston is plus-45 by halftime.
The second halves have been the opposite. Opponents have outscored Houston 189-173 after the break, with Dallas winning its second half 72-58 and Atlanta 66-62.
First-half margin
+45first halves, 190-145
−16second halves, 173-189
38Rockets points in the 2nd quarter vs. Dallas
Step 4
Same twos, different threes and free throws
Here is the strangest number of the start. Houston and its opponents have each made exactly 88 two-point shots. The whole margin came from beyond the arc and at the line.
The Rockets made 40 of 96 threes, 41.7 percent, while opponents made 36 of 123, 29.3 percent. At the line Houston went 67-of-79 and its opponents 50-of-72. Twelve points from threes plus 17 from free throws is exactly the 29-point margin.
Three-point percentage
Free-throw percentage
88two-pointers made by each side
+12points from threes
+17points from free throws
Kevin Durant as a SuperSonics rookie in Seattle, Jan. 3, 2008. U.S. Air Force photo by Tyler Hemstreet. Resized.Step 5
Durant, Sengun and Amen Thompson
Kevin Durant is averaging 24.0 points on 23-of-41 shooting, 56.1 percent, and has made 19 of 22 free throws. He opened with 30 against Dallas, the same total Jabari Smith Jr. scored that night.
Alperen Sengun is at 23.0 points, 9.0 rebounds and 6.3 assists, and carried the fourth quarter in Austin on his way to 29. Amen Thompson has three double-doubles in three games and sealed the Spurs game by blocking Victor Wembanyama in the final second.
Points per game, three games
56.1%Durant field-goal percentage
10.3Thompson rebounds per game
3Thompson double-doubles
Step 6
The back-to-back without three guards
Saturday in Atlanta came without Fred VanVleet and Steven Adams, rested by plan on the second night, and Marcus Smart, out with a left forearm strain. VanVleet had 16 assists and no turnovers in the first two games.
Reed Sheppard, who sat in Austin with a sore knee, started and scored 19 points with five threes, seven assists and a plus-19. Tari Eason added 19 off the bench, and seven Rockets reached double figures.
Rockets scorers at Atlanta
19Sheppard points in his first start
5Sheppard threes, on 11 tries
7Rockets in double figures
Houston has won with its stars, with its depth and on tired legs, and it has done it by building leads early, getting to the free-throw line and keeping opponents cold from three. The second halves are the part to fix. The Hawks get a rematch at Toyota Center on Monday, October 26, at 8:30 p.m. ET; the Hawks-Rockets Game Center has the preview.
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