Another crumble in crunch time
The Rockets had led through much of the game, briefly by as much as 13, and by four with 5:40 left.
That put them in another “clutch situation,” the sort in which they had done just enough two nights earlier.
But the Rockets were again not ready for winning time players.
They had excelled offensively through much of the night. The Rockets had drained more 3s than in any game in two months. They had seven players scoring in double figures. But with the game on the line, the Rockets missed their next six shots, mixing in three turnovers, as the Bulls surged through a 13-0 run and to a 119-111 win Saturday at Toyota Center.
This is not unusual for the Rockets. Though they typically excel defensively in clutch situations, ranking fourth in the NBA, they have had the worst offensive rating in the final five minutes of games with a five-point margin or less. They had scored just 92.8 points per 100 possessions in clutch situations, well off their average of 109.7 points per 100 possessions overall.
The Bulls had no such difficulties with Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan and Pat Beverley pouring in the 3s the Rockets could not. The Bulls outscored the Rockets 17-5 in the final 5 1⁄2 minutes, beginning that stretch in a game they had not led by more than two.
LaVine led the Bulls with 36 points while DeRozan had 27. But Beverley added by far his best game of his eight with the Bulls, soring 16 points with a season-high four 3-pointers, adding 10 rebounds.
Jabari Smith Jr. led the Rockets in scoring for a second consecutive game, scoring 20 points with 10 rebounds and a career high three steals. Jalen Green added 18 points with seven assists.
But after making 15 of 23 3-pointers through three quarters, the Rockets made 1 of 11 in the fourth, the offense again hitting a wall five minutes too early.
Fortitude adjustment
The Rockets got off to a flying start, which can happen on occasion and was not that surprising considering their good stretches two nights earlier and their outstanding offensive game in the win against the Bulls in Chicago.
The more important stretch, and perhaps the more significant sign of growth, might have been after things went badly.
The Bulls made the predictable run, outscoring the Rockets 20-8 in six minutes to reduce a lead that reached 13 to one. The Rockets have been known to crumble under the weight of that sort of push from a polished, veteran team, and at the time, the Bulls had their polished, veterans on the floor.
The Rockets, however, responded. They hit back with a quick, 8-0, run. Josh Christopher knocked down a pair of 3-pointers in that quick answer, but the Rockets also moved the ball as they had in building the lead, instead of trying to do too much individually as they often have in those circumstances.
They headed to the second half clinging to a onepoint lead. They had little to show for most of the work in building the lead. But hot starts cannot be expected to last. The Rockets have needed to learn how to play when things go badly, rather than just when they are going well.
Finally, a 3-for-all
The enormous disparity between the Rockets’ and their opponents’ scoring from the 3-point line is not just the way the Rockets misfire. That’s a big part of the problem. They are last in the NBA in 3-point shooting percentage. But they have increasingly struggled with getting enough good looks.
That was most obvious when they attempted just 17 3s in an overtime loss on Thursday when the Pacers made 18.
The Rockets allow the most 3s per game in the NBA, 14.6. They average the fourth-fewest, 10.7. But they made 17 in the first meeting with the Bulls and came out determined to move the ball to open 3s.
The Rockets went 9 of 16 in the first half, hitting as many or more in a half as they had in three of their past four games.
They went into the game having not had more than 13 in any of their past 25 games, matching their longest streak of games with 13 3s or fewer since the 2014-15 season. They had 15, on just 23 attempts, through three quarters.
A rookie’s run
If Smith’s shooting struggles were from having his confidence shaken, it would stand to reason that he be able to ride the wave of his turnaround. His game in Indianapolis on Thursday, when he scored a career-high 30 points, including the turnaround 3 to force overtime, would be a boost to most players’ confidence.
It was his best game of his rookie season, but it was not a one-game aberration. He had been turning things around for several games, the groundwork for that breakthrough.
But the key would be to back up his play in Thursday’s game with more of the same. He did that, knocking down 7 of his first 9 shots including a pair of 3s, giving him 18 points through three quarters.
He has scored at least 20 eight times, but never in consecutive games. He scored to give him 20 when he grabbed an offensive rebound and slammed it back in, the second time he dunked a second-chance basket, with more than eight minutes remaining.