NBA regular season continued, the Rockets and the Mavericks focus battle officially began, Harden ushered in a comeback, and House missed due to injury. In this game, the Lone Ranger showed enough resilience. The Rockets were completely blown out by the Lone Ranger in the previous few games. The Rockets fell behind their opponents by 12 points in a single quarter. In the second half, the Rockets relied on continuous counterattacks to wipe out the difference. But Hardaway's small three-pointer on the Lone Ranger was too accurate. Three consecutive hits widened the point difference to double digits. The Rockets failed to chase points. In the end, the Rockets lost 100-113 to the Lone Ranger and missed their 3-game winning streak.
The Lone Ranger always controlled the rhythm of the field in the first half, and the Rockets began to counterattack frantically in the second half. Harden led a wave of 16-3 attacks to reduce the difference to 2 points. The two sides began a tug of war. In the crucial fourth quarter, Gordon teamed up with Brown to make three-pointers and evened out the difference. The Lone Ranger came back and blasted a wave of 21-5 spurts to expand the difference to double digits. The Rockets failed to chase the points. Lost to opponents 100-113, missed 3 consecutive wins.
The Rockets started very passively. The poor three-point shooting rate kept the Rockets from being able to narrow the point difference. In the third quarter, the Lone Ranger continued to kill the inside line to expand the point difference to 16 points, and Wall's free throw narrowed the point difference. At 13 points, Silas made a staff adjustment, he once again replaced the five small lineup, Harden, Gordon, Nuwabah, Tucker and Tate. This lineup had a miraculous effect. Harden scored 4 points in a row with a penalty. Little Tate also scored 6 points inside and outside. The Rockets had a 14-0 spurt to reduce the point difference to 2 points. This time, Silas The changes let fans see his ability to control the situation on the court. Compared with D'Antoni, Silas only used the five small lineups as a surprise, which can help the team turn the tide at critical moments.
However, the weakness of the Rockets in this game is very obvious, which is also the main reason for the Rockets' collapse in the fourth quarter.
First, the Rockets were completely crushed by their opponents on rebounds. In the entire game, the Rockets only grabbed 35 rebounds, while the Mavericks picked 50 rebounds. It’s not that the Rockets lineup is not high enough, but The Rockets' players on the court were not aggressive enough to grab rebounds, which led to many offensive rebounds easily won by opponents. Of course, the expulsion of Cousins is also a key to the changes in the Rockets situation.
Second, the Rockets’ three-pointers were too bad. The Rockets’ three-pointers in this game were once as low as 20%, and 11 of 39 three-pointers in the audience were blown by the Lone Ranger’s 16 three-pointers. Let’s take a look at the three-point statistics of the Rockets’ main players. Harden is 3 of 11, Wall is 1 of 3, Wood is 0 of 5, Nuwaba is 1 of 3, Brown is 1 of 4, and Tucker is 0 of 1. , Gordon is 4 of 10, if there is no consecutive three-pointers in the second half of Gordon, the Rockets will lose even worse this game.
Third, Harden has too little possession of the ball. The Rockets have always been in control of Harden in previous games, but after Wall arrived, Harden became a fixed-point pitcher. To be honest, Wall's ability to handle the ball is really not as good as Kazakhstan. Den, his containment ability is too weak, if Harden holds the ball to organize the offense, maybe the game will be another picture. In the whole game, the Rockets' ability to transfer the ball was not good enough, resulting in the assist data being crushed by the Lone Ranger 24-17.
The Rockets lineup is still constantly running in, but considering the actual situation, the Rockets should let Harden go. Wall and Westbrook need the ball to attack the ball, and Harden is also a guard who needs the ball. Only by getting enough ball rights can you show your power. 5 of 17 in the game, 3 of 11 three points, 21 points, 10 assists, 3 rebounds and 2 steals. Harden's performance is very rare. If Silas does not adjust the ownership of the ball, Harden is likely to be with Wall. Infighting broke out, which is a bad signal for the Rockets.
