The Houston Rockets ended their four-game losing streak and gave interim head coach J.B. Bickerstaff his first win as an NBA bench boss Wednesday night.
How did they beat the Portland Trail Blazers, roughly 13 hours after the dismissal of Kevin McHale as head coach? They dominated overtime, but in order to get to the extra stanza, they needed this from Corey Brewer:
COREY BREWER DRILLS THE 3 WITH 0.9 LEFT!#rockets and #Blazers headed to overtime! pic.twitter.com/45oqrqRHL1
— Def Pen Hoops (@DefPenHoops) November 19, 2015
Notice a few things at the 0:07 mark of this quick video. First, two Blazers have drifted inside the three-point arc, a pointless and counterproductive maneuver in the final few seconds of a three-point game. Second, the defender responsible for Brewer never picked him up — at least not to the extent of closing down the shooting hand.
That’s why you’re Portland, and that’s why a generally poor performance by Houston got bailed out.
