Feb. 15—OKLAHOMA CITY — As the ultimate seconds of the third quarter trickled off the clock, Rockets guard Josh Christopher missed an off-balance, one-handed scoop layup try. The Thunder acquired the rebound forward to Shai Gilgeous- Alexander, who threw down a dunk that expanded Oklahoma City’s result in 40 factors and punctuated what had already grow to be the Rockets’ second humiliation in as many weeks.
The final recreation the Rockets performed at Paycom Center on Feb. 4 marked their worst defeat of the season as they surrendered 153 factors to the Thunder and misplaced by 32. In the 4 video games between then and Wednesday, the Rockets allowed opponents to common 122.5 factors per recreation, shoot 51.8 % from the sector and 40.6 % on 3-pointers.
The rematch with the Thunder constituted extra of the identical. The Rockets misplaced 133-96 on Wednesday and introduced their shedding streak to seven in the ultimate recreation earlier than the All-Star break.
Prior to the sport, Rockets coach Stephen Silas warned it was potential for groups to “let go of the rope” with the break in sight. The Rockets did so, and the Thunder grabbed maintain of the rope and yanked it in the wrong way.
Oklahoma City shot 48.3 % from the sector and 85.1 % on free throws. Less than 5 minutes elapsed earlier than Houston trailed by 10 factors, a 1-of-7 taking pictures begin juxtaposed with Oklahoma City’s 7-of-10 begin.
The Thunder went to a zone protection for a while in the primary quarter as the Rockets shot 26 % from the sector however returned to man protection as soon as it grew to become obvious the Rockets posed no menace both method.
Houston shot 33.7 % from the sector, 27 % from deep, and was outscored in the paint 64-38. The Rockets trailed by as many as 45 factors throughout the Feb. 4 loss, and on Wednesday noticed the deficit attain 31 in the second quarter and 40 in the third.
Rockets guard Jalen Green scored 11 of his 14 factors in the second quarter however suffered a groin pressure simply earlier than halftime and didn’t play the remainder of the sport. The Rockets didn’t play any of their starters in the fourth quarter, anyway.
Foul play and foul mouths The sound of wind blowing throughout the Oklahoma plains was accompanied by fixed whistling inside the world. The Rockets and Thunder mixed to try 30 free throws and officers handed out six technical fouls throughout the first quarter, which took practically 45 minutes to unfold.
Houston made simply 5 targets in the quarter and missed seven free throws, together with two technical foul free throws. Jae’Sean Tate, Alperen Sengun and Usman Garuba every picked up a technical. One of Oklahoma City’s three technicals was assessed to teach Mark Daigneault.
The Rockets tried 27 free throws in the primary half, their highest whole for any half this season, and completed taking pictures 26-of-38 (68.4 %) on the foul line. They entered Wednesday averaging 25.6 free throw makes an attempt per recreation, which ranked fifth in the NBA, with a mean of 27.1 over the previous 14 video games.
The Thunder ended the sport taking pictures 40-of-47 on the foul line, season highs for a Rockets opponent in each made free throws and makes an attempt.
Surging a lot too late
For the third recreation in a row since they traded Eric Gordon, the Rockets began Tate at level guard. Houston’s general offense was questionable at greatest, flat and uninspired at worst, however for some time at the start Tate was the one one able to scoring.
Tate made his first three photographs of the sport whereas the remainder of the Rockets went 0-for-11, however he additionally appeared more and more annoyed with the officiating and picked up three first-half fouls, needing to be comforted by Jabari Smith Jr. and assistant coach John Lucas after the third. He performed simply 5 minutes in the second half.
By the time Green started to activate the jets in the second quarter, when he scored 11 factors, the Rockets had been down by 30. Green was heating up and helped whittle the deficit to twenty factors, however he then exited the sport 36 seconds earlier than halftime following the damage.
All-Star warmups The Thunder’s trio of representatives for All-Star weekend seemed like they had been revving up for the upcoming festivities in Salt Lake City. All-Star reserve Gilgeous-Alexander scored 29 factors in 29 minutes on 8-of-16 taking pictures. Rising Stars invitees Jalen Williams and Josh Giddey added 13 factors apiece.
Houston’s representatives didn’t match them. Rising Stars Sengun and Smith ended up simply shy of double-doubles, although lengthy after the sport had been determined. Sengun struggled with foul hassle and turnovers en path to eight factors and 10 rebounds. Smith, who additionally will compete in the abilities problem, made a number of 3-pointers in a recreation for simply the third recreation this month and had 9 rebounds however scored 5 of his 15 factors on the free-throw line.
Fellow Rising Star Green’s damage took him out of the second half totally. Dunk contest participant Okay.J. Martin shot 1 of 9 from the sector and missed all three of his 3-point makes an attempt.
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