The Rockets’ latest stretch leaves them with the fewest wins in the league with the...
Houston Rockets guard Jalen Green, right, drives past Denver Nuggets center DeMarcus Cousins in the first half of an NBA basketball game Friday, March 4, 2022, in Denver. The Rockets did not just become the team with the NBA’s worst record on Friday. It has been a long, slow, steady descent.
They might not be worse than they were when they would sprinkle in an occasional win. Jalen Green’s improvement is obvious. Jae’Sean Tate remains reliable. K.J. Martin has become a shooter. That’s not enough to win, especially while some of the other important rotation players are slumping. But the greater issue is that there has been minimal progress in the shortcomings – defense, turnovers and especially free throw shooting – that keep them from winning.
The Rockets have to make their 3s. They waste more possessions than any team in the league with turnovers and missed free throws, ranking last in the NBA in both. They need to make up for that by often scoring three points at a time. “That was the shots we were getting, probably some fatigue with the third game in four nights and the travel. But that’s the NBA. We got to fight. We got to muster it up. If the 3s aren’t going, we got to drive and get to the free-throw line. When the 3s aren’t falling, it’s hard for us.”
“There’s a lot of things. We compound mistakes all the time. We dig ourselves in a hole. Of course, we’re in the game. But it’s a different kind of energy and effort to really try to win the game. We just didn’t have that tonight.” “Lately, it’s just been the third quarters,” center Christian Wood said. “We play good in the first half. And usually, the third quarter comes around and we have a lot of defensive lapses. It feels like we’re right there. Everybody is doing the best they can to try to pull out a win. We’re playing hard. We just have a few hitches here and there defensively.”