Rockets breeze by Bulls, 109-94

Posted: December 18, 2013 -- 11:59 pm CST.

HOUSTON, TX (Toyota Center) -- The Houston Rockets didn't allow the Chicago Bulls to control the pace of the game; and, the Rockets' up tempo style produced a thorough 109-94 win Wednesday night in front of an announced crowd of 18,242 fans (and a national television audience).

"Pace was really important for us tonight," Kevin McHale said after the game. "We tried to get the ball up and down and put some pressure on their defense before they get set. If you constantly go against the set defense, it is just too hard. I thought we did a pretty good job of moving the ball and getting some pace in the game."

James Harden drained a three-point shot to break an 8-8 tie and give the Rockets a lead they would not relinquish the rest of the ball game.

"Yeah, definitely, we wanted to play fast," said James Harden. "That's how we want to play. We want to play fast no matter who we are playing. Play fast; move the basketball and everybody scores. We did that tonight."

Harden scored nine points in the first quarter; and, the Rockets led the Bulls 24-16 after one period. The Rockets limited the Bulls to just 28.6% (6 for 21) field goal shooting in the quarter.

The second quarter belonged to Patrick Beverley. Beverley scored 11 of the team's 33 points in the quarter -- including a three-point shot to beat the halftime buzzer and give the Rockets a 57-46 lead at halftime.

"I thought he came out and had great energy," McHale said of Beverley. "He made that big three going into halftime. He just played hard."

Beverley commented, "I was trying to be aggressive tonight. I don't think I played good defense at all today. I don't know what was wrong with me; but, I tried to be aggressive on offense today; tried to make some plays; especially when James was out; and, I was able to get some easy buckets."

The Rockets (17-9) led 62-49 early in the third quarter before the Bulls crawled back into the game with a 16-6 run to shrink the Rockets' lead to just three points (68-65) with 5:24 left in the third quarter.

However, the Rockets finished the quarter with a 15-1 run. During the run, the Bulls missed six field goals and turned the ball over five times.

The Bulls (9-15) got no closer than 14 points in the fourth quarter.

Dwight Howard scored a game-high 23 points. Howard led five Rockets in double-digits. Harden and Parsons each scored 19 points. Beverley added 15 and Omri Casspi scored 11 off the bench. Ten Rockets played and all 10 scored at least two points.

"With the guys we have on our team, any lineup would work," Howard said. "We can go big. We can go small. We can go with the three point shooting lineup. We've got the ability to adapt to any situation; and, we are getting better as the season goes."

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