This was a strange game for the Rockets. A game that may have gone badly, may have ended close, but ended in a walk for the Rockets. In the end, this was a win for the Rockets’ depth and intensity, especially in the second half.

There was a lot of scoring in the first quarter and not much defense from either team. It also showed Memphis shooting about 75% from three in the first frame. The quarter ended 38-38, which certainly wasn’t the plan for the Rockets’ defense. The good sign in all the Grizzly shooting was that most of the shots weren’t taken by the key Grizzly players. Instead, it was Jay Huff, Scotty Pipper Jr., John Konchar and Jaylen Wells who seemingly couldn’t miss for Memphis. Rockets fans could hope that Memphis’ three-point barrage would become less accurate, and that ultimately happened.

One of the positive signs for the Rockets in the first quarter was that Fred VanVleet, along with Sengun and Jabari, shot well (when the Rockets weren’t missing bunnies at the rim). We also saw Reed Sheppard check in late and miss VanVleet fouls and shoot two three-pointers.

Memphis stars Ja Morant and Desmond Bane showed up in the second quarter, while neither the Rockets’ bench nor the starters could do much. Midway through the quarter, Gristle had a lead of 12. However, the Rockets appeared to be holding on at that point, marking a turning point in the game.

The comeback was, as expected, led by strong defense, great shooting and overall great play from…Jalen Green. Green personally nearly cut the Grizzlies’ lead to six in the final six minutes of the second. He made three straight three-pointers, assisted on plays and generally played, dare I say it, like an All Star. At least for six minutes. When Jalen actually defends, shoots, and passes well in stretches, he’s almost an avalanche. Maybe these moments will become more common. If so, the Rockets’ future looks much brighter.

Looking at Jalen’s stats, you might conclude that it was more of the same tonight, but it really wasn’t. He tried to pad his numbers too late and of course missed. If you weren’t watching, trust me: Jalen was good and the key to the comeback.

The Rockets went into halftime down by 6 and came out like a buzz saw on both ends of the court. It was Jalen who opened the quarter, but Alpie and Jabari got involved and cut the lead to two. Dillon Brooks also contributed. However, it was the bench (as well as Jalen and Sengun) starting halfway through the quarter that broke the Grizzlies. After the Rockets took the lead with Green and Sengun about five minutes before the end of the third period, the bench, particularly Amen Thompson and Tari Eason, took over.

When the third game ended, the Rockets had scored 21 points and were leading 98-83.

The fourth quarter was mostly on the road, but between Tari and Cam Whitmore harassing Ja Morant down the court, the Rockets managed to end any hopes of a Memphis comeback by turning more defense into offense, as they did late second and third quarters the case was quarters.

This was a team effort from the Rockets, led by the guys you want to see at the top – Jalen, Alpie, Jabari, Fred and Dillon – they scored 86 points for the Rockets, with Jabari at the bottom with 14 points and Jalen at the End high end at 22.

Tari Eason scored 13 points on 5-7 shooting and 3-4 from three-point range as well as 5 boards, 2 steals and a block in 16 minutes. Amen had moments of confusion but also brilliance tonight: he scored 9 points on 2-4 shooting and 5-5 FTs, as well as 6 rebounds and 3 assists.

Cam Whitmore scored 11 points on 5-12 shooting but continues to be erratic from the FT line – 1-3. He also got five fouls, but it was a whistle more reminiscent of the beginning than the end of last season.

So far we’ve had over 70 FT games on two occasions in total, and in tonight’s game between the Rockets and Grizzlies, 62 FT was achieved through some really testy and boring reffing from David Guthrie and company. Tonight in the 76ers/Raptors game there was a “performance” of 99 FT . For those keeping score at home, that’s more than 2 feet per minute in official basketball. I really hope the NBA doesn’t go back to the crap of last season, before the mandate that wasn’t a league mandate. So far that seems to be the case.

Unlike the opening loss, where the Rockets’ rebounds fell apart in the second half due to numerous Hornets offensive rebounds, the Rockets controlled the glass overall. They outscored the Gristlies 64-43 in rebounding and 23-14 on offense. Those second chance points and eliminating many similar opportunities for Memphis made a big difference.

Hopefully this game will ring the alarm bells a bit. It was truly a team win, thanks to the strong and balanced scoring output of the starting players and the great play of the bench.

The Rockets face the Spurs tomorrow night in San Antonio. Hopefully they can move on.