Rockets Home Streak Ends in 134-127 Loss to Hawks
Loose Switches. Wrong Direction. Fighting the Schedule.
It was fun while it lasted, but Houston’s win streak at home came to an end on Wednesday night, as the Hawks outlasted the Rockets, 134-127, at Toyota Center. Houston had won eleven straight at Toyota Center, but the Hawks ended that streak in triumphant fashion. This contest was a game of runs. The Rockets trailed by 20 points early, then came back to take a five point lead in the second half. Atlanta then took the lead again, by a sizable amount. Houston rallied again, but the comeback attempt ultimately fell short in the loss. Trae Young led the Hawks with 30 points and 14 assists, as the Rockets have now given up more than 134 in consecutive games. The defense needs to get better. Houston has been shooting the ball well and playing fine on the offensive end. Their defense is to blame for these recent losses. Jabari Smith Jr. had the best game of his young career. Jabari scored a career-high 34 points, and grabbed 13 rebounds. Fred VanVleet continued his stellar play. FVV scored 32 points and dished out 15 assists. Both guys have been Houston’s best two players over the last few games.
The Rockets’ pick-and-roll defense was terrible against Young and the Hawks. Houston had loose switches on almost every coverage featuring a pick-and-roll in this matchup, and ultimately led to them allowing a whopping 134 points. After an impressive start wading a tough early schedule, the Rockets have now officially their first bad loss on their resume this season. You should never lose to a below .500 team at home. Even if they feature a few All-Stars like Young and Dejounte Murray. The Rockets have been several title contenders at home, and their bad start doomed them in this latest loss. Houston has now lost three straight games overall, and will look to get back on track Friday night as they host the Dallas Mavericks.
Coming up the Rockets have a weekend back-to-back, followed by a lengthy seven-game home-stand. First the Rockets host the Mavs this Friday, before traveling to New Orleans to face the Pelicans on Saturday night. The schedule is pretty tough coming up, including these two games. The Rockets have a lot of home games coming up, but most of them are against likely playoff teams like the Mavericks. Houston needs to find their defensive swagger, or they could be in danger of approaching a lengthy losing streak.