Rockets find no magic against Wizards in sixth straight loss.
Cast of characters is shuffled again as Gordon, Tucker sit, but same problems persist in sixth consecutive loss
For all the ways the Rockets were unrecognizable with half their rotation sitting out, what was left of them offered a good facsimile of the recent struggles.
Everything that had gone wrong through the losing streak would be worse with most of the potential solutions unavailable. None of it was new.
The Rockets could not shoot 3-pointers. They could not slow their opponent on the other end. They turned the ball over and gave up second shots.
As much as John Wall sought to carry them in his return to Washington, the Rockets saw their losing streak reach six games as the Wizards scored far too easily for what was left of the Rockets to keep pace, falling 131-119 on Monday night at Capital One Arena.
The Rockets reached the point that they would have been close to considering sitting their remaining starters, trailing by 18 with five minutes left. They made a run to keep the game within a longshot reach, closing to within 10 with 3½ minutes left.
After a Moe Wagner 3-pointer interrupted the Rockets’ run, Jae’Sean Tate finished a drive and then set up Danuel House Jr. at the rim for a three-point play to bring the Rockets within eight. But they had not gotten stops all game and still could not.
Russell Westbrook, who had 16 points, 13 rebounds and 15 assists, drained a foul
line jumper. The Rockets missed two more 3-pointers. A Rui Hachimura layup ended any remaining doubt.
Wall led the Rockets with 29 points and 11 assists, with David Nwaba getting 19 and Tate adding 18.
The Rockets could not begin to slow the Wizards often enough to keep up. They seemed to be climbing uphill from before the start.
If it were not discouraging enough to carry a five-game losing streak, with Christian Wood out and not close to a return and Victor Oladipo joining him on the shelf, the Rockets found themselves even more shorthanded. Eric Gordon and even P.J. Tucker, who had not missed a game in four seasons with the Rockets, also were out Monday.
Playing without three of their top four scorers was not likely to get the Rockets out of their shooting slump, even with Wall celebrating his return to Washington by scoring more points with more assists than in any game since he left.
The Rockets made just 8 of 37 3-pointers as their shooting troubles continued. The more the Rockets missed 3s, the more the Wizards — who always protect the paint well — packed the lane to keep the Rockets out of it.
Still, the Rockets had even more trouble on the other end, allowing more points than in any game this season.
The Rockets got off to another terrible start shooting 3s and could not slow the Wizards. But Wall kept them in the game through the first half, anyway. Wall got to the rim consistently, knocking down mid-range jumpers and setting up shots around him. He even threw down a hard, lefthanded jam to remind of old times on that floor.
He could not get the Rockets to string together stops. Much of that was a credit to the Wizards, who blew out the Celtics the day before without shooting well. The Wizards, as they had on Sunday, lived at the line. But they added the sort of 3-point shooting they have lacked all season.
Davis Bertans, who had struggled since his breakthrough season, nailed four of his five 3-pointers, including a pair with off-balance rushed jumpers late in the first half. The Rockets, after making just 3 of their first 17 attempts from deep, finally got a pair to go with Sterling Brown and Ben McLemore hitting 3s before the end of the half.
By halftime, however, the Wizards were shooting 58.1 percent, 46.7 percent on the 15 3-pointers they put up. The Rockets were in the game, trailing 72-69. But while playing just seven players through much of the half — save brief cameos for two-way players Ray Spalding and Mason Jones —the Rockets did not seem likely to win a shootout.
Ending the losing streak seemed dependent on rediscovering their defense, even with essential players on that end of the floor missing. They never came close, with the Wizards scoring too often and too easily for the Rockets’ thoughts of stealing a slump-busting win to have a chance to materialize.