Undermanned Rockets Fall Short in 137-128 Loss to Thunder
Late Scratches. MVP Demonstration. Moral-Est of Victories.
In a game that featured many of Houston’s players sidelined due to injuries, the Rockets still put forth a valiant effort, yet fell short to Thunder, 137-128, on Monday night. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander erupted to score 51 points for OKC, as his performance against Houston showed why he’s the leading favorite to win the NBA’s MVP award this season. Fred VanVleet, Alperen Sengun, Amen Thompson, Dillon Brooks, Tari Eason, and Steven Adams were all sidelined due to injuries. Eason and Adams sat out due to injury management per usual on the second night of a back-to-back. Unfortunately, VanVleet apparently re-tweaked his angle after stepping on a referee’s foot in their previous game against the Sacramento Kings. Sengun, Thompson, and Brooks were all game-time decisions that turned into late scratches for the Rockets.
Despite missing all those rotation players, Houston made this contest more competitive than expected in OKC. The Thunder needed every last one of SGA’s 51 points, as the scrappy Rockets refused to go away quietly. Cam Whitmore scored 27 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in a striating role. And in his first start of the season, Reed Sheppard had the best game his young career. The rookie scored 25 points on 10-for-17 shooting, and dished out 5 assists in a career high 31minutes of playing time. Jalen Green added 18 points for Houston, but SGA and the Thunder were too much for this undermanned Rockets team to overcome. Fellow All-Star Jalen Williams added 24 points for OKC to help keep Houston at bay.
With the loss, the Rockets stay in the fifth place in the West, with a 37-24 record. Houston still remains only a game behind the Memphis Grizzlies for the fourth spot (and the Rockets own the tiebreaker with the Grizz). This defeat in OKC was the moral-est of victories for Houston. Monday night was as undermanned as the Rockets have been all season. And they hung with arguably the best team in the NBA for almost 48 minutes. Houston should be expected to get some players back for their next game, tomorrow night in Indy against the Pacers. The Rockets still have a four game lead over the Golden State Warriors for the sixth spot. But the Dubs are heating up, as the Warriors have gone 8-1 since acquiring Jimmy Butler right before the trade deadline. Houston doesn’t own the tiebreaker with Golden State, so the Rockets need to pile up some wins soon if they want to avoid slipping further down in the standings.