Rockets (3-0), Pelicans (1-2)
SHANGHAI – With every seat in the arena filled and loud cheers following every significant play by both teams, the atmosphere at Sunday's game in China made the event seem much more important than a mere preseason game. New Orleans and Houston delivered a contest worthy of that environment, with the Southwest Division teams playing to a draw for nearly the entire evening. The Rockets even put much of their starting group back in the game late, in order to pull out the victory. Houston scored the game's final eight points over the last 54 seconds of action, turning a 117-115 deficit into a six-point triumph. The Pelicans scored 30-plus points in each of the first three quarters, but slowed a bit in the final stanza with 22.
IT WAS OVER WHEN…
Montrezl Harrell stole the ball from New Orleans and breezed to the other end for a resounding two-hand breakaway dunk, giving Houston a six-point lead in the waning seconds. Harrell took the ball away from Buddy Hield, who had tried to lean in on a three-point attempt and draw a shooting foul, but to no avail. Former New Orleans guard Eric Gordon gave the Rockets the lead for good by sinking a wing three-pointer with 54 seconds left, making it 118-117.
PELICANS PLAYER UPDATES
E'Twaun Moore's career high in scoring in the NBA is 24 points, a total he surpassed Sunday. The free-agent pickup from Chicago continued to shoot well and perform at a high level during the preseason, notching 25 points and shooting 4/4 from three-point range. He is now 8/12 on treys in the three exhibition contests. …
Omer Asik has appeared to be in better shape from Day 1 of training camp. He's now carrying over that improved conditioning to his on-court performance. The 7-footer from Turkey pulled down 14 rebounds (4 offensive) in his 28 minutes of action, while also playing aggressively on offense. Asik scored 14 points, highlighted by his four dunks. He also blocked five shots and has shown an improved touch on free throws (6/8 on Sunday) in preseason (12/14 total). …
Prior to sitting the entire fourth quarter, Anthony Davis matched his uniform number by tallying 23 points, including 17 in the first half. The three-time All-Star went to the foul line 11 times, making nine free throws. His playing time increased again from the previous game, finishing at 23:17 Sunday. …
Buddy Hield compiled a third straight double-digit scoring game in preseason, posting 14 points. The rookie lottery pick is shooting 52.6 percent from the field and 40 percent from three-point range in preseason.
QUOTES TO NOTE
“These were two really good offensive teams. Both teams started the game running, playing up-tempo. The defense had to get better… We had a couple chances to win it at the end, but just didn't get it in the basket. A couple open shots, a situation where we had a tap-in layup, but ran into each other. Those are the kind of things that happen in preseason.” – Alvin Gentry on the tight loss
“We're treating every game in preseason like it's the regular season. Because we build habits now… We don't take preseason lightly. We're a fairly new team with a new coaching staff, new players, so we want to get going early.” – Rockets All-Star guard James Harden, who was surprisingly subbed back into the fourth quarter with the outcome in doubt. Harden, Gordon, Ryan Anderson and Trevor Ariza all logged big minutes, especially for preseason. On the other side, NOLA's late-game group was primarily its second unit
BY THE NUMBERS
17.7: Points per game in preseason by Moore. For what it's worth, the sixth-year veteran is New Orleans' leading scorer, just ahead of Hield (17.0) and Davis (16.0).
10: Number of Pelicans who played in Sunday's game. That low number for a preseason tilt was partly due to players like Terrence Jones and Alexis Ajinca sitting Sunday, after they both had logged significant minutes in the other two games. Gentry has said he wants to give major minutes to those who do play, which sometimes may mean preseason DNPs for select other healthy Pelicans.
