Rockets' offensive ineptitude reaches new levels in loss to Clippers
HOUSTON -- The Houston Rockets' offensive issues Thursday night reached comedic levels of painfully ugly on the possession early in the third quarter that ended with a 24-second shot-clock violation despite Houston attempting three field goals.
Russell Westbrook passed out of a crowd in the paint to P.J. Tucker, who airballed a corner 3-pointer with Kawhi Leonard closing out on him. Westbrook grabbed the rebound and attempted a reverse layup that was rejected by the bottom of the backboard. After the ball bounced back into his hands, Westbrook found himself caught in traffic and threw a wild pass to Robert Covington, who recovered the ball near half court and unleashed a heave that didn't come close to the basket.
That's the kind of night it was for the Rockets in a 120-105 loss to the LA Clippers that wasn't nearly as close as the final score indicated.
"It was just a whole barrel of bad stuff," Rockets coach Mike D'Antoni said, shaking his head. "We just got our butts whipped."
The Rockets trailed by as much as 30 points in a game that could have significant implications on Western Conference playoff seeding. It was an especially dominant performance by the Clippers' defense, which held Houston to 30.1% shooting from the floor, including 3-of-34 from 3-point range, through three quarters.
"Offensively, we just didn't have any rhythm," said Rockets star James Harden, who scored 16 points on 4-of-17 shooting, missing all eight of his 3-point attempts, and sat out the entire fourth quarter. "They made us play in the half court, because we didn't get any stops."
The Rockets misfired on 20 consecutive 3-pointers during a span that lasted from late in the first quarter until deep into the third, a drought reminiscent of Houston's 27 straight missed 3s during its Game 7 loss to the Golden State Warriors in the 2018 West finals. According to the Elias Sports Bureau research, it was the most consecutive missed 3s by any team in an NBA game this season.
"I think missing shots a lot of times is just a product of not being forceful, not being engaged and not being tough," D'Antoni said. "They smacked us good. We didn't respond."
The Clippers (43-19) improved to 10-0 when they have a fully healthy roster. They extended the league's longest active winning streak to six games, maintaining a one-game cushion over the Denver Nuggets in the race for the West's No. 2 seed, with the Rockets dropping to 3 games behind LA.
The Clippers never blinked against the small-ball Rockets, sticking with their big lineups and still preventing Houston from pushing the pace, holding the Rockets to only eight fast break points through three quarters.
"We just stayed consistent to who we are," said Clippers star Leonard, who had 25 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists.
Houston has been able to force other opponents to attempt to match up by also playing a small lineup, but the Clippers' centers responded to coach Doc Rivers' pregame challenge to "be big." Starting center Ivica Zubac had 17 points on 6-of-6 shooting and 12 rebounds, getting dunks on a few occasions when the Rockets had defensive communication breakdowns. Montrezl Harrell, a Sixth Man of the Year candidate, also had a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds.
"We didn't get suckered into who they had on the floor and what they was running," Harrell said. "We took away what we wanted to take away and played the way we wanted to play."
