NBA scores 2015: The Rockets are slowly finding their way

Houston isn’t suddenly the title contender some thought they were before the season, but a new coach and renewed energy has them looking better.

by Tim Cato

Dec 5, 2015, 2:00 PM UTC

Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Firing Kevin McHale hasn't immediately solved the Houston Rockets' woes. Their 100-96 win against the Mavericks on Friday featured moments of last year's squad that reached the Western Conference Finals -- ball movement, shot making, dynamic plays. Mixed in, too, were glimpses of the Rockets squad that got their coach canned after one month. But baby steps, you know.

Slow progress is better than none, especially as the Rockets battled Dallas without Dwight Howard. The win means Houston has won four of its last five and that it's above .500 since J.B. Bickerstaff took the reins as the interim head coach. They've now won five of their nine games. The Rockets still have yet to even their regular season record -- Friday's win makes them 9-11 -- but again, it's progress.

Matchups against Dallas always provide some sort of theatrics. An already heated division rivalry only intensified with Chandler Parsons switching sides two summers ago, while Daryl Morey's and Mark Cuban's occasional hand grenades aim at one enough are always sure to fire up the two parties.

A Dallas team that has surprised mostly everyone this season tied the game at 96 with 1:09 left, but they wouldn't score again. Houston kept the ball away from Dirk Nowitzki all night and James Harden, to his credit, did contest his 15-foot jumper with about 35 seconds left. (Sorry to disappoint you, Rockets Twitter account.)

With Nowitzki’s miss, Harden sealed it with a jumper that hit every part of the iron.

The Rockets’ last three wins had come against Philadelphia, New York and New Orleans, but a win over Dallas proved they could notch wins against quality competition, too. There’s a renewed energy that just wasn’t present to open the season. James Harden doesn’t have to score 40 for Houston to earn a win and some sharp adjustments down the stretch helped Houston earn the win against Dallas.

It’s still a long climb back to where Houston was regarded before the season -- as a dark horse title contender and a clear lock to take home court into the West playoffs. But again, for now: baby steps are just fine.

3 things we learned

The Knicks are New York's team ...

... and Kristaps Porzingis is their golden child. In a duel with the Nets at Madison Square Garden, the team in New York proper showed a clear edge over Brooklyn, beginning the blowout with a 42-21 first quarter and never looking back. Porzingis, now 20 games into his NBA career, is still impressive at every turn -- on Friday, he notched 19 points and 10 rebounds on 7-of-13 shooting in 26 minutes. That's the type of quietly efficient and effective night you expect from a reliable veteran star, but Porzingis is just 20. If you have boarded his bandwagon, you're quickly running out of time.

Anthony Davis steals a win from LeBron in overtime

If New Orleans has any chance to climb back into playoff contention, these are the wins they must take and Davis has to be in the middle of it all. His 46-minute, 31-point outing for the Pelicans managed to just barely push them past Cleveland in overtime, despite James' best efforts to end it in overtime. Up 105-102 with 15 seconds to play, after James had scored 23 -- twenty-three! -- points in the fourth, it looked like that might be enough. But a Jrue Holiday triple sent the game to overtime where the Pelicans dominated, squirreling away a win that may be crucial in the winter months.

Just take that win and run, Washington

The Wizards and the Suns combined for 41 turnovers and the strangest final 10 seconds as we've seen all season. Despite several attempts just now trying to describe it concisely, there really isn't any way to do that. Here's a slightly more detailed account going moment by moment.