Rockets Blow Lead as Thunder Comeback to Leave Houston Stunned, 117-112
A Tale of Two Halves. Thunderstruck. Red Headed Stranger.
In a season that’s clearly been a tale of two teams, Saturday night’s disastrous collapse for Houston was a tale of two halves. The Rockets led by as many as 26 at one point, yet the Thunder stormed back to shock Houston, 117-112. The Rockets were was in control of this game throughout the first half. Houston built their lead in a dominant 2nd quarter, outscoring the Thunder 42-23, but they gave the lead back to OKC in the 3rd quarter. Oklahoma City’s 3rd quarter surge, they outscored Houston 42-20, brought them back in the game, allowing them to close out the Rockets in the final quarter. James Harden finished with 42 points to extend his 30-point streak, but it wasn’t’ enough. Kenneth Faried had another double-double, posting 17 points and 12 boards. Chris Paul dissected the OKC defense for much of the night, and was just shy of a triple double. CP3 finished with 18 points, 10 rebounds, and 9 dimes as he looks better with each game. Iman Shumpert looked to be finding his footing with the squad in his debut. More playing time is required to see if Shump will be a nice fit like many expect. The newest Rocket finished with 3 points and 4 rebounds in his debut.
Houston toyed around with another team on Saturday night. Except this squad was an elite opponent, and no matter how sizeable the advantage, no lead is safe for the Rockets. The Thunder boast two of the league’s premier players in Russell Westbrook and Paul George. The two led the charge as OKC left the Rockets thunderstruck on Saturday night. George had 45 points and 11 rebounds to go along with some of the best defense James Harden has seen in some time. Westbrook finished with 21 points, 12 boards, and 11 dimes for his NBA-record tying 9th consecutive triple-double. An NBA team is never out of a game, especially a team like OKC with two superstars who can get hot and carry a team. Houston paid for taking their foot off the gas, and the Thunder struck back. The Rockets need to address their habit of blowing leads and if they can’t fix this issue, they might find themselves out of the playoffs sooner than expected.
As the season moves on, this Rockets team is becoming more and more difficult to predict. They’re like a red headed stranger. You just don’t know what they’ll do next. Just when you think they’re going to win, they lose, and vice versa. Houston needs to start finding a defensive identity if they want to be considered contenders. The Rockets have a lot of bad habits associated with young teams. Houston is one of the older teams in the NBA. The squad needs to start putting the pieces together to get ready for a post-all-star break push. Up next for the Rockets, interstate rivals come to town as the Mavs get ready to show off their rookie phenom, Doncic, in front of the H-Town fans. Last time, the rookie led a comeback to put Houston away in another game featuring a Rocket-collapse. Hopefully, the Rockets learned from their mistakes on Saturday night. And, maybe it’s the wake-up call the Rockets needed to stop playing around. Only time will tell.