The final minute of a physical and tense affair against the Miami Heat on Sunday devolved into something beyond basketball for the Houston Rockets, but that melee didn’t mask their primary issues.
For the second time during a five-game homestand, the Rockets collapsed down the stretch offensively. Houston will host the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday after blowing a 16-point lead in the final five minutes of regulation against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday before the Heat rallied for a 104-100 victory by erasing a 12-point, second-half deficit while Houston struggled to score in the fourth quarter.
Houston tallied only 18 points in the fourth against Miami, with six coming on 3-pointers from Cam Whitmore and Dillon Brooks inside the final six seconds and with the outcome already decided. The Rockets finished 6-for-25 from the field in the fourth.
That performance mirrored the frantic final moments of the meeting with the Timberwolves, with Houston going ice cold down the stretch while simultaneously surrendering a 106-90 lead that it had held with 4:57 left.
The Rockets entered Tuesday tied for 28th in the NBA in 3-point shooting percentage (32.7). When their shots from the perimeter aren’t falling, opponents pack the paint to prevent rim attacks from Jalen Green while also double-teaming Alperen Sengun to contain him down low. That strategy has yielded some ugly finishes as of late for the Rockets, who are in search of a course correction.
“Scoring at the end in both of those games obviously stands out, and that’s something that has to be addressed,” Houston coach Ime Udoka said. “(The Heat) finished with 23 (points) in that (fourth) quarter, and they had a ton of free throws at the end and technicals and all that.
“So we are guarding well enough to hold Minnesota to 100 until they go on their run, but we are struggling to score at the end. And so that’s something that needs to be solved.”
Houston will be without guard/forward Amen Thompson on Wednesday after the NBA announced that he will be suspended two games for his role in an altercation against Miami.
On Monday, the Mavericks’ 110-100 road loss to the Sacramento Kings featured a spirited effort with a depleted roster. Dallas played without four starters — Luka Doncic (calf), Kyrie Irving (shoulder), Klay Thompson (illness) and Dereck Lively II (hip) — while Naji Marshall served a suspension.
The attrition forced the Mavericks to use their 15th different starting lineup in their 33rd game of the season, and with Doncic set to be sidelined for at least a month, the Mavericks’ rotation remains in flux entering the finale of a four-game road trip.
Dallas has dropped three of its past four games.
“We felt confident with the group we went out there with (on Monday),” Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said. “We’re just trying to find a way with the bodies that we have. And I thought the group that could go really put us in a position to win.”
Being so severely short-handed has forced Kidd to lean heavily on P.J. Washington and Spencer Dinwiddie, who combined to score 58 points while logging 38 and 36 minutes, respectively, against Sacramento.
–Field Level Media
