Rockets impress Filipino fans with 116-96 rout of Pacers

MANILA, Philippines – Houston Rockets coach Kevin McHale experimented by switching starting rotations and it paid off handsomely as the Houston Rockets routed the Indiana Pacers, 116-96, to nail its first win in the NBA pre-season before enthusiastic fans at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City Thursday night.

James Harden fired 21 points by going four-of-five from the field, including a pair of 3-point conversions and spiked it with four assists, the same number of steals and two rebounds in just 24 minutes as the Rockets bounced back from a heartbreaking 115-116 defeat to the New Orleans Pelicans Sunday in Texas.

But it was McHale's ploy to start Patrick Beverly at point guard and Terrence Jones at power forward in favor of Taiwanese-American star Jeremy Lin and Lithuanian Donatas Motiejunas at power forward, respectively, as the Rockets bench got energized.

Beverly, Lin, Jones and Motiejunas, who will play for Lithuania in the 2014 FIBA World Cup in Spain where Gilas Pilipinas will also play, all ended up playing solidly.

"I've told Jeremy (Lin) I will alternate him with Patrick (Beverly) because I want to see what comes out of it and the synergy between D-Mo (Motiejunas) and Omri Casspi looked pretty," she said.

Dwight Howard was held to just nine points and saddled with foul trouble early to go with four turnovers in his second game since signing a four-year, $88 million deal with Houston in the offseason.

He had 19 points and nine boards in the Rockets pre-season debut defeat.

Filipino fans, who consider basketball as a religion, got a treat as they finally witnessed the real NBA experience.

A total of 12,885 paying patrons attended the event, which is a historic first for the country which considers the sport second to none.

Pacers coach Frank Vogel said the Rockets just played better.

"We arrived on the same day we had an equal share of practice so we can't say it’s the jetlag. The Rockets just played better than us," said the 40-year-old Vogel.

Of all, Lin drew the loudest cheer being an Asian like the Filipinos. Interestingly, Lin's biopic titled "Linsanity" was shown at the nearby MOA cinemas more than a week back.

Houston dictated the pace in the first half as it goes into the break up, 61-55.

There was some booing from the crowd though after Lin dribbled past Lance Stephenson, who then found him hard late in the second quarter.

The boos continued a few plays later when Stephenson went to the foul line.

Chandler Parsons, who admitted taking local celebrity KC Concepcion two nights before, also drew some cheers with his well-rounded plays. He had nine points from a variety of shots and had three assists, including a nice feed to Israeli Omri Casspi for a thundering dunk.

The Rockets led by as much as 13 points, 27-14, on a fast, aggressive start anchored on Harden, a third time Manila visitor who had eight points in the opening quarter.