Rockets Suffer Another Collapse in 104-100 Loss to Heat
Deja Boo. Chippy Finish. Adversity Strikes.
For the second straight game, Houston suffered a late meltdown, as the Rockets fell to the Heat, 104-100, on Sunday night. Houston led by double-digits in the final period, but Miami closed the game on a 19-4 run to take the victory. In his return to action, Dillon Brooks scored 22 points to lead the Rockets. Alperen Sengun scored 18 points and grabbed 18 rebounds, and Jalen Green added 19 points for Houston. Tyler Herro scored 27 points and dished out 9 assists to the lead the Heat. With less than a minute remaining in the game, Fred VanVleet was ejected by veteran official Marc Davis on a very questionable call. Davis didn’t let the Rockets receive the full five seconds to inbound the ball, and when VanVleet took objection, the ref ejected the point guard from the contest. And this was only the start to a very chippy finish to this matchup.
Amen Thompson and Herro got into a late game scuffle that resulted in several ejections. Once Thompson had enough, the rising sophomore threw Herro to the ground, causing teammates from both sides to engage in the proceedings. Thompson and Herro were both ejected, with Thompson receiving a two-game suspension. Houston’s Jalen Green, Head Coach Ime Udoka, and Lead Assistant Coach Ben Sullivan were also tossed from the contest, along with with Miami’s Terry Rozier, who received a one-game suspension. In total, two coaches and five players were ejected in a very dicey end that saw the Rockets let another game slip away in the final moments. After a very impressive start to the 2024 portion of this season, Houston’s stumbled into the end of the calendar year.
With the defeat, the Rockets have now lost two straight games for only the second time all season. Although this is the first time Houston has dropped two straight at home. The Rockets had been on a roll at Toyota Center, winning twelve of their previous fourteen home games before starting 0-2 to begin this five-game homestand. The squad’s previous two-game losing streak featured losses on the road. After a dominant start at home, this feels like the first time the Rockets have truly faced adversity all season. In the tight Western Conference, a losing streak of three of four games could slide Houston all the way down from third to place, potentially even as far as the seventh spot. Up next, the Rockets will try to regroup as the face one of their in-state rivals, the Dallas Mavericks, to start the New Year on Wednesday night.