In Milwaukee on Monday, the Houston Rockets coughed up a 13-point first-quarter lead and rallied from a 14-point second-half deficit, but they stumbled down the stretch in a 101-100 loss to the Bucks that snapped their five-game win streak.
It marked the sixth game in nine days for Houston, which will host the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday to open its third three-game homestand this month.
The defeat had all the markings of the inconsistency that plagued the Rockets last month, an issue Houston appeared to resolve over the previous five games. The Rockets offset their poor shooting — Houston shot 40 percent and missed 23 of 32 3-pointers — by turning 16 offensive rebounds into a plus-17 margin in shot attempts. But they suffered defensive lapses in the first half, allowing Brook Lopez and Gary Trent Jr. to shoot a combined 8-for-10 from behind the arc.
But when a rally was required, the Rockets delivered, behind 12 consecutive points from Fred VanVleet in the third quarter and a 10-point fourth from Jalen Green. Houston led by as many as seven points in the final period and held a 100-94 advantage with just under two minutes left, only to go cold and allow Damian Lillard to lead the Bucks to victory.
The schedule has been unforgiving of late, but the Rockets’ reliance on defense, second-chance opportunities and transition points can only be so effective if the halfcourt offense continues to lag. It required ample energy to erase that 14-point deficit, but the Rockets had enough in reserve to finish the job. They simply didn’t.
When the Rockets scuffled out of the gate to start the season, coach Ime Udoka would note how they came up short, often in explicit detail. He did so again Monday.
“I think we had a lot of fresh bodies in,” Udoka said. “Guys that made the comeback weren’t in the game at that time. Tari (Eason) was not in, Aaron (Holiday) was not in and those guys really brought us back. We had plenty of timeouts to use and we had wide-open looks so I don’t think it was fatigue. Both teams were playing a lot of minutes and we had wide-open looks that didn’t fall.
“You’ve got to knock down shots at the end of the day and they’re as wide open as you’re going to get.”
The Pacers’ struggles with rebounding continued unabated in their 130-119 road loss to the Toronto Raptors on Monday. Indiana finished minus-14 on the glass and entered Tuesday tied for 26th in the NBA with a 47.7 percent rebounding rate, ahead of only the Wizards, 76ers and Thunder.
Rebounding isn’t a new issue for the Pacers. Last season, Indiana posted a 49.2 percent rebounding rate that ranked tied for 23rd, and the inability to compete on the glass is proving detrimental.
Indiana also allowed 18 points off of 11 turnovers against the Raptors, as the Pacers picked up their fourth loss in six games.
“Turnovers and rebounding are possession of the ball,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “Those are areas where we’ve just got to continue to talk about it and try to make improvements.”
