NBA scores: The Rockets can’t be stopped and 3 other things we learned Thursday night

Houston blows out another team -- this time the shorthanded defending champs -- plus three other things we learned about the NBA on Thursday night.

by Yaron Weitzman

Nov 7, 2014, 1:00 PM UTC

Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

There are a few ways to look at the Houston Rockets, who now stand at 6-0 after their 98-81 home shellacking of the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday night. On one hand you could look at their schedule, which has been as soft as anyone's in the NBA, and say this is all a mirage. Four of the Rockets' wins have come against teams who will be drafting in the lottery this summer (Lakers, Jazz, Celtics, Sixers) and one win, Thursday night's over the Spurs, came against a team resting two of its best players because it had played the night before.

On the other hand, it's not like the Rockets have been winning nail-biters, and they do have a couple of "good" early wins. There was the blow out of the Heat in Miami earlier this week, on the second night of a back-to-back. A victory over the Spurs, no matter who's on the court and who's being given the night off, is always something to be proud of.

You can't control who you play but you can control how you play, and it would be difficult to play better than Houston has through six games. The Rockets yet to win a game by less than 11 points. Right now they're fourth in the NBA in offensive rating (108.6) and third in defensive rating (92.5). They're taking a league-high 31 threes per game and hitting a league-high 13.5. That percentage (43.1 percent) is also tops in the NBA. As if that wasn't enough, Houston is also getting to the foul line a ton; only the Kings and Raptors have attempted more free throws.

The question, of course, is what to make of all this. Is this just symptom of small sample size, or has something about the Rockets changed? The roster certainly has, which means it’s possible that this Houston team could be different than ones in years past. On the surface at least the current Rockets seem to fit better than last year’s did. The roles seems to be more defined.

The now departed Chandler Parsons is a better player than Trevor Ariza, but he's not nearly the defender that Ariza is and likes to have the ball in his hands. That's normally fine, but Houston already has a guy who likes to dominate the ball -- James Harden -- and the team is better off with players who work on the periphery. That's why Patrick Beverley, with his ability to defend and shoot from deep, is a perfect backcourt running mate for Harden, and why the whole Jeremy Lin thing never worked.

It's also worth noting that Dwight Howard is now another year removed from the back surgery he had in 2012 and, so far, has looked great on both ends of the court.

What to make of all this is currently unclear. All you can do now is tip your hat to Houston and see what happens from here.

Trevor Ariza on Kawhi Leonard, Photo credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Three other things we learned

Come playoff time, the defending champs will be as rested as anyone. This is one of those things that could have been assumed given how good the Spurs have been in the past at managing their players' minutes, but that Gregg Popovich is already giving Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili a night off -- which he did on Thursday night, the Spurs' second game in two nights — less than two weeks into the season, is a good indication of how San Antonio plans on going about its title defense. For the Spurs, the goal is to get to May with a roster full of healthy bodies and confident players. This is how they do so.

The Portland Trail Blazers are now good at defense. On Thursday night the Blazers held the Mavericks, the top scoring team in the NBA, to 37 percent shooting in a 108-87 home win. On the season they're holding opponents to 96.1 points per 100 possessions, which is the fifth best mark in the NBA. Last year that number was 104.7, and it's not like they've played a bunch of inept offenses. These numbers have come against the Thunder, Kings, Warriors, Cavaliers and now Mavericks. We already knew that Portland could score; in LaMarcus Aldridge and Damian Lillard, the Blazers have two of the best individual scorers in the league. But if Terry Stotts can get his team to defend at even a top-10 rate, the Blazers could make things even more interesting out West.

Mavericks center Brandan Wright is going to challenge Wilt Chamberlain's single-season field goal percentage record. Wilt shot 72.7 percent in the 1972-73 season. So far this season, Wright has hit 19-23 shots. That's an 82.6 field goal percentage. Last year Wright shot 68 percent, so it's not like this is completely unchartered territory for him. The Mavericks' offense is one of, if not the best in the NBA, and Wright knows how to play within it. He also only shoots when near the rim. Wright breaking the record is not something to bet on, but don't be surprised if he comes close to the 70 percent mark this season.

Play of the Night

Poor Aron Baynes. He tries to be a good teammate and cover up for Danny Green, and this is his reward. Sometimes, life is just not fair.

Three fun things

During the TNT pregame show, Charles Barkley said that he won’t eat another meal until the Lakers win a game. The jokes pretty much write themselves and, as TNT pointed out during halftime of the Spurs-Rockets game, this means that the Chuckster has about a week left.

How TNT projects Charles Barkley's fast until the Lakers win pic.twitter.com/3LPL8Xb8TR
— CJ Fogler (@cjzero) November 7, 2014

Spurs rookie Kyle Anderson was whistled for an infraction before recording a second of playing time in an NBA game. That’s got to be some sort of record.

Kevin McHale dresses for practice the way my 94-year-old grandfather dresses for his physical therapy sessions. Only thing missing is the velcro shoes.