NBA Scores: The Rockets improve to 5-0 & 3 other things we learned Tuesday night

Houston remains undefeated with a win in Miami and three other things we learned around the NBA on Tuesday night.

Nov 5, 2014, 1:00 PM UTC

Mike Ehrmann

It is, of course, very early -- and there might not be a GM in the NBA more aware of how silly it is to make major judgments based off of small sample sizes -- but the Rockets’ 5-0 start must make Daryl Morey feel pretty good.

It was an odd offseason for Morey and the Rockets. He gutted his roster in order to clear room for a big free agent signing, only to eventually miss out on all of his top targets. The summer also saw him begin a strange beef with Mark Cuban. Despite the eventful and less than fruitful offseason, the Rockets are suddenly acting as if they know how to play defense. Following their impressive 108-91 win in Miami, they now find themselves with a 5-0 record and are one of the three teams in the league who have yet to lose a game (the Warriors are 3-0, the Grizzlies are 4-0).

Houston's latest win was impressive for a number of reasons, the first being it came against a 3-0 Miami team that had been averaging 109 points per game. The Rockets held the Heat to 91 points on 43 percent shooting and did so coming on the second night of a back-to-back -- though back-to-backs involving the Sixers should probably be categorized separately. Either way, Houston has clearly turned things up on the defensive end. Part of that is a result of the cupcake schedule the Rockets had to open the season (Lakers, Jazz, Celtics, Sixers). But, it's also possible that the addition of Trevor Ariza, once thought to be a consolation prize, could prove to be a difference maker. Ariza gives the Rockets another stout defender to pair with the already steady Patrick Beverley and Dwight Howard. That's a good defensive core, and a group that just might be able to make up for the laissez faire attitude that James Harden often devotes to that side of the court.

Speaking of Harden, he’s still awesome; his 25-point, 10-rebound nine-assist performance against the Heat was a beauty to watch. Harden shot 10 free throws (he made all of them), hit shots from all over the floor and got everyone involved. Ariza added 19 points and hit five threes. Beverley scored 14 points and made four from downtown while Howard dominated the smaller Heat in the paint and finished with 26 points and 10 rebounds. Houston hit 17 shots from downtown and is shooting 44 percent from three this season compared to 32 percent last year.

This is a lot to say after just five games and the Rockets will face a stiff test on Thursday against the Spurs. Still, 5-0 is 5-0. When a team with two of the league's 10 best players gets off to a fast start and does it by playing D and hitting lots of 3s, it's worth taking note.

Three other things we learned

This whole Cavs thing is going to take some time. Shooting 37 percent from the field is not going to get it done, and it certainly didn't Tuesday night in Portland where the Cavs fell to the Blazers, 101-82. LeBron James and his new Big Three are now 1-2. The Cavaliers look like a roster full of players who just met each other about a week ago. As the Heat showed in 2010, it can take time for players to mesh, even great ones. But, it did seem like the offseason narrative around this team was about how well this group fit together. That hasn't been proven false yet, but it will be interesting to see how, David Blatt, an NBA rookie, handles the early struggles.

The Bulls are going to be very cautious with Derrick Rose. Which they should be. When you've suffered two major leg injuries like Rose has, every little tweak has the potential to become something more. That is probably why the Bulls decided to let Rose sit out their 98-90 home win against the Magic. There was some weirdness to all this, though. An hour before game time, the Bulls listed Rose as their starting point guard. Then, at the last minute, they announced he was sitting out. Again, not a big deal. But, that Chicago is either confused about how to handle Rose, or being ridiculously prudent with him, is something worth noting.

The Thunder are cursed. Seriously. Heading into their Tuesday night matchup against the Raptors, the Kevin Durant- and Russell Westbrook-less Thunder had just eight healthy players on the roster. They are down to seven ... and given how things have gone for Oklahoma City so far in 2014, would it really surprise anyone if another player got hurt on the postgame walk to the team bus? Perry Jones III exited the game after banging knees with Raptors forward Patrick Patterson and was seen limping out of the arena. As if that wasn't enough, Reggie Jackson hurt his ankle later on and had to come out of the game for a bit and probably would have taken the rest of the evening off if the Thunder were remotely healthy. Oh, and after the game Serge Ibaka said he has also been dealing with an ankle injury. Needless to say, the Thunder loss to the Raptors, 100-98. Getting close to panic time for OKC.

Play of the Night

Watching little guards block big men at the basket will never cease being fun. Here we have the 6' Aaron Brooks going up to reject the 7' Nikola Vucevic. Vucevic is listed at 260 pounds. Brooks is listed at 161. Yeah, this is not supposed to happen. It's not like Brooks got a little piece of the ball, either. No, he went up, met Vucevic at the rim, absorbed the body blow and just completely stuffed the shot. Brooks also had 13 points and eights assists in the contest. All in all, a nice showing from one of the Bulls' offseason additions.