Heartbreak in Houston: Kings Best Rockets at the Buzzer, 119-118
Tick Tock. Wasting Westbrook. Pretenders in the Mist.
“Just miscommunication. That’s all. It happens,” P.J. Tucker said after Houston’s heartbreaking loss at the buzzer to Sacramento, 119-118, on Monday night. Even if it’s for a second, miscommunication can be costly, and it happened and cost Houston a win as the final horn sounded. Things were looking bright for the Rockets in a closely contested game with one second on the clock. Houston took the lead, 118-116, with only a second remaining on a Russell Westbrook layup, that looked to be the game winner. But one second can be an eternity in the NBA. And it was plenty of time for the Kings. On the final possession, the Rockets miscommunicated on defense and left Nemanja Bjelica wide open, who sank a three at the buzzer to spoil Houston’s night. Buddy Hield led the Kings with 26 points, but it was a joint effort from Sacramento that gave them the victory. Six Kings’ players scored at least 13 points. The Rockets let Sacramento hang around long enough, until all the Kings needed was the ball and a second to win the game, which proved to be more than enough.
Houston wasted Russell Westbrook’s best game as a Rocket. Brodie scored 34 points, on stellar 13-for-17 shooting from the floor. His final basket looked to seal the victory for Houston, until Bjelica broke the bad news at the buzzer. Westbrook’s played extremely well the past two games, certainly an encouraging sign. P.J. Tucker had a career-high 19 rebounds, and was everywhere on the court per usual. Clint Capela had a solid night, scoring 13 points and grabbing 17 boards. James Harden had a quiet 27 points on poor shooting from the outside. It’s just one regular season loss, but the Rockets can’t continue to let teams hang around in games they’re supposed to win. Houston is clearly the better team, but once again played down to their competition on Monday. The clock is ticking. If the Rockets can’t start to win games over bad teams comfortably, it’s going to cost them in the energy tank in the long run. Houston’s starters are playing WAY too many minutes. This is partially due to injuries, and Coach Mike D’Antoni’s hesitation to give certain players (Gary Clark) more minutes. Clark was allotted 21 minutes on Monday, and was mistake-free once again. Clark never turned the ball over, and finished with 11 points, 3 boards, 2 keys blocks, and shot 3-for-5 from downtown. Clark has shown that he deserves more minutes. It’s time Coach recognizes Clark’s positive impact.
The Rockets will need to bounce back from this tough loss, as they hit the road for a short two game trip coming up on Wednesday and Friday. It’s against two more teams Houston should beat, the Cavs and the Magic. After Monday’s loss, it’s hard to see what this Rockets team will bring night-in-night-out. After winning 8 straight games, Houston has gone 4-5, and looked like pretenders in the mist. Or maybe they just don’t realize how important seeding is this year and are taking the regular season for granted. Last season showed what a difference one game can make in the standings, Houston lost their final game last season, nearly at the buzzer, and it dropped them from the second spot to fourth in the standings. As a result they had to play Golden State in the second round, instead of the Conference Finals. If the Rockets don’t start focusing on the big picture, they’re going to be in trouble. Houston needs to start winning the games they’re supposed to win. At 15-8, the Rockets are now 5 games out of the 1-seed, which is crucial this season in the West now more than ever. What makes everything so frustrating is the Houston has the potential of a Lakers team that sits first in the West with a 21-3 record. The Rockets have the capability to blow teams out, beat the barnburners, but they just refuse to give themselves a break. And at the end of the regular season, games like Monday night’s heartbreaker could add up to cost Houston in the end. And the Rockets could be bounced before they even reach the Conference Finals. It happens.