Low-Key Trevor Ariza Is Critical to High-Octane Houston Rockets

Trevor Ariza doesn’t do a lot of talking.

He’s reserved, reticent and quite often a reluctant interviewee. He doesn’t get too high or too low. He doesn’t get loud or boisterous or shaken or taken out of his game. The Houston Rockets forward just lets his game do all the talking, even after the dust up with Dallas Mavericks center Salah Mejri took an ugly turn in Tuesday night’s 123-107 rout. 

Ariza received two technical fouls, got ejected and waited for Mejri outside of the Mavs’ home team locker room. And the 13-year veteran was already done with it.

“It’s over,” Ariza said. “I’m trying not to think about it. I know what happened. He knows what happened and that’s it.”

So there he was, back in uniform against the Los Angeles Clippers Friday night, doing all the little things that often go overlooked.

Lost in the revelry of James Harden’s seventh triple double of the season (30 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists) and Montrezl Harrell’s career-high 29 points in the Rockets’140-116 drubbing of the Clippers was Ariza’s pivotal 18 points (5-10 from behind the arc), four rebounds, two steals and seven assists.

Those kind of numbers warrant people’s attention, right?

“It should,” Ariza said, laughing. “Whatever is needed or whatever we lack, I try to be, whatever that may be. I just try to make plays when needed and pick up the loose ends.”

At 6’8, 215 pounds with a 7’2 wingspan, Ariza’s unmatched utility and versatility reminds of a Swiss Army knife. He can defend, make plays, stretch the defense with his three-point shooting and just when the Rockets need it, he can hit a momentum-swinging dagger.

Yet, on a team with Harden consistently stirring the pot as the league’s top MVP candidate, Ariza, despite averaging 12.4 points, 5.1 rebounds and 2.1 steals per game, is the NBA’s version of Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man.

And he’s just fine with that.

“I mean that’s what a team is about: just coming together and doing the things that are needed to win,” Ariza said. “And you can’t win without everybody contributing and that’s what we’ve all bought into.”

Harden bought into playing point guard. Eric Gordon bought into coming off the bench. But Ariza didn’t have to buy into anything.

His assimilation into Mike D’Antoni’s system has been seamless.

“Everything about him (D’Antoni) says team,” Ariza said. “Just the way he treats his players, his coaching staff, his style of play. It’s all about everybody working together and making each other better.”

In …

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