Rockets Zone Out in 116-110 Loss to Magic
Sudden Death in Texas. Zoned Out. New Low.
For the second straight game Houston couldn’t manage to hold a halftime lead, as they collapsed against the Magic, 116-110, on Wednesday night. Paolo Banchero played like the #1 overall pick in this season’s draft class, and looks like a future bonafide All-Star in this league with superstar potential. Banchero had 23 points and 13 boards to lead the Magic’s second half rally over the Rockets. Houston controlled the first half, entering the break with a ten-point lead. But another terrible third quarter doomed the Rockets, in particularly Orlando’s zone defense. After playing man-to-man the entire first half, the Magic switched to a zone for the remainder of the game around the 8:30 mark of the third quarter. Once the switch came, Houston resorted to dribbling and poor decision-making. The squad initially found KJ Martin via great ball movement for a few dunks to score when the zone was first initiated. For some reason, the Rockets stopped moving the ball and did their best James Harden impression… dribble, dribble, dribbling the clock, and their hopes of a victory away. After switching to a zone, Orlando outscored Houston 54-33 for the remainder of the second half, en route to their six-point victory. Besides Banchero’s impressive play, Franz Wagner’s 25 points ensured the Rockets wouldn’t break the losing streak on this night.
Kevin Porter Jr. had his best game of the season, registering 31 points, 6 boards, and 5 assists. But other than Scoot, the Rockets didn’t have much juice in the second half, as they suffered another collapse against an inferior opponent. Jalen Green scored 21 points and had a career-high 8 rebounds, but when the game was on the line, the Rockets young All-Star couldn’t step up to the moment. KJ Martin continued his steadily solid play, scoring 18 points for Houston. Alperen Sengun garnered another double-double with 13 points and 12 boards, but as a team, the Rockets were dominated in the second half. Orlando’s zone defense literally zoned Houston out of their offensive strengths, and allowed the Magic to rally for a comeback win. Back in the first matchup with Orlando, the Rockets scored 9 points on 4 possessions when the Magic went to a zone. On Wednesday night, Houston scored only 20 points on a whopping 29 zone possessions by Orlando. And initially, with ball movement, they were able to conquer the zone, but they resorted to perimeter Harden-ing, which resulted in a frustrating loss. Coaching has to come into question in a game like this. Stephen Silas has a challenging job managing these young players, but Wednesday night was certainly not his finest hour on the bench. If hottest rumors start to emerge for Silas, look back to this game for evidence why some people believe he’s not the right head coach for this young squad.
So what’s happened to these Rockets? Sudden death in Texas? It feels like the squad’s reached new lows after this latest loss. Stephen Silas mentioned it could be the “dog days” on the NBA season, but the true “dog days” of this league lie in January and February, amidst the approach of All-Star break. Houston is a little early to be feeling the “dog days” of this league, especially for such a young team. After winning five straight home games, the Rockets have now lost four consecutive contests at Toyota Center. They’ve plummeted back to the bottom of the West, with a firm grip on last place. Up next, Houston plays their final home game of this seven game stretch, which started out so promising with a couple of impressive wins before the four straight losses. The opponent this time? Another team with a headline-worthy player in the Mavericks and Luka Doncic. The lights are always a little brighter when the superstars hit the stage. For some reason, this young Rockets team has the tendency to rise to the occasion, and play the upset role when facing superstar-led teams. Against worse competition, Houston seems to throw in the white flag, or run out of energy way before the 48 minutes of playing time are up. Hopefully a matchup against one of the league’s MVP-candidates will rejuvenate these Rockets… and give them the Magic they need to finally secure a win to close out this home-stand, and end this current skid of misery.