The Rockets showed up to Friday night’s game with the San Antonio Spurs, but they barely played two quarters of actual basketball. Houston was crusing along in the second quarter up 11 points when the bottom fell out and the Rockets gave up a 12-0 an ugly run to end the second to go into halftime down 51-50. They would never recover the effort and intensity needed for a comeback, and they fell to the Spurs 121-110.
Houston was out-efforted and outhustled by the Spurs, often beating the Rockets at their own game, and this was honestly my least favorite loss of the season so far, where the Rockets looked the least like the Rockets. They were led by Alperen Sengun with 25 points, 9 rebounds and 8 assists on 10-for-22 from the field, but not many other Rockets played well.
Kevin Durant looked awful and this was probably the first time this season that I thought he legitimately looked old. He was just 8-for-18 from the field, shot just 2 three-point shots (hitting 1) and turned the ball over 8 times. He scored 24 points, but they were labored, and he looked slow and every day of his 37 years of age.
Houston’s only other real postives outside of Sengun were Reed Sheppard, who played his best game of the season, scoring 16 points on 6-for-10 shooting from the field and 4-for-7 shooting from deep, while Josh Okogie had 12 points, 3 rebounds and 5 steals. Reed still needs to improve his defense, but he looked much better on offense last night and was rewarded with 25 minutes of playing time.
Tari Eason continued with his hot shooting start from deep with 11 points on 3-for-4 from downtown, and he added 2 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals as well, but he turned the ball over 4 times. In fact, the Rockets had 23 total turnovers, and the lack of a point guard really stood out in Houston’s disjointed play. This was the first game I also felt there would have definitely been a different outcome had Fred VanVleet been out there to help settle things down.
The Spurs were led by a trio of 20-plus point scorers, including 24 from Harrison Barnes, 22 from Victor Wembenyama, and 22 from Juilan Champagne. They now are firmly ahead of the Rockets in the standings and have dealt Houston a tough loss in NBA Cup play.
The Rockets now are looking for answers on effort and intensity on defense and organization on offense. Things don’t get any easier, as they travel to Milwaukee to take on the Bucks on Sunday afternoon.