PHILADELPHIA — The Rockets were fading fast, taking their annual Philadelphia whipping far earlier than usual, when rookie Chase Budinger looked down the team’s bench and delivered a message.
Budinger had not experienced the Rockets’ four consecutive losses to the 76ers, defeats among the most disheartening of the previous two seasons.
He just saw the Rockets down by 17 points and knew there was work to be done.
“I looked over to the other guys and said, ‘We’re going to have to turn this around for us,’” Budinger said.
Who knew it could be so simple?
The bench ended the Rockets’ Philly frustration, and when the starters showed up for the second half, the Rockets had their biggest comeback of the season en route to a 96-91 victory Friday at Wachovia Center that sent the Sixers to their 12th consecutive loss.
“We came out flat as a team,” Kyle Lowry said. “The second quarter, me, Chase, Carl (Landry) and DA (David Andersen), that’s our job, to come in and give us a lift. That’s what we did. We did a great job, and the starters finished the game. Our second unit is pretty good. I think it’s one of the best second units in the NBA.”
The Rockets’ bench outscored Philadelphia’s 46-6, led by Landry’s 20 points.
“In the first quarter, we came out very flat,” Rockets coach Rick Adelman said. “They jumped on us. But our bench did a great job in the second quarter.
“Chase and Kyle and Carl just came in and turned the game around, got us back in the game. And we had a great, great third quarter.
“We talked to the starters. They have to get off their butts and play. It was so bad in the first quarter. They’ve got to come out and set the tone for us. We were just a different team. In the first half, we were sleep-walking.”
Slide ended
To the rest of the league, the 76ers are a team with their longest losing streak since the run that led them to trade Allen Iverson, now so desperate to recapture lost glory that they brought him back.
To the Rockets, they represent their recurring Nightmare on Broad Street, and as if daring that fate again, they not only fell into that early 17-point hole but let all but the last three points of a 13-point fourth-quarter lead slip away in the final six minutes.
As much as one streak — the Sixers’ losing streak or Rockets’ losing streak to the Sixers — was going to end, by the fourth quarter the game was also certain to feature either the Rockets’ largest comeback this season or the largest against them.
The Rockets had turned around much of what had gone wrong early.
Trevor Ariza was 0-for-5 from the field and 0-for-4 from the line when he came up with a steal and beat the halftime buzzer with a 3-pointer that cut the lead to three.
Aaron Brooks had gone from a 1-for-6 first half to a 16-point second half. And the Rockets’ defense shut down the Sixers in the third quarter.
Brooks shines
Brooks outscored Philadelphia 14-13 in the third quarter, matching the fewest points any team has scored in a quarter against the Rockets this season.
When Budinger hit a 3 and then finished a strong drive to start the fourth quarter, the Rockets had a 13-point lead, their largest of the night.
The Rockets led by 13 with six minutes left, but the Sixers went on a 90-second, 8-0 run.
Luis Scola put in a pair of free throws to stop the run, but Iverson was twice fouled on drives, hitting three free throws to cut the Rockets’ lead to 91-87 with 2:54 remaining.
Iverson hit a vintage A.I. runner to pull the 76ers to within 94-91 with 66 seconds remaining before the Rockets finally iced the win.
Brooks tried to slip a pass inside to Landry, but Samuel Dalembert slapped it toward the baseline, leaving Brooks just enough time to chase it down and fire away from 18-feet, scoring as the shot clock buzzer sounded to lift the Rockets to a 96-91 lead with 8.5 seconds left.
Team responds
“Coach said he wanted to spread the floor, a little isolation, throw the ball off the defender and see if we could get a shot,” Brooks said. “The play worked perfectly.”
The difference, however, was when the Rockets’ bench ended two seasons and one quarter of Rockets frustration and the starters joined in.
“That’s why we’ve been able to win a lot of games,” Adelman said. “We respond. Our guys respond.”
jonathan.feigen@chron.com
