Rockets’ rally falls short against the Sixers in seventh straight loss.
Spirited rally cuts deficit from 29 to 4 but can’t prevent 7th consecutive loss
Somehow, the charm of responding when getting blown out had begun to lose its appeal. But this one was by far the best, with potential to be among the greatest, most unlikely in Rockets history.
It ended the same as the others.
If nothing else, the Rockets have in their losing streak learned how to get up and fight back.
As comebacks go, the Rockets’ rally from trailing the 76ers by 29 in the second half to within four, topped the rest in the slide. They could not complete the rally, with the 76ers holding on 118-113 Wednesday night at home to send the Rockets to a seventh consecutive loss.
The Rockets had rallied the hard way. They put in some of the 3-pointers that had been clanging in the first half. But mostly they dramatically improved their defense and began taking care of the ball and got to the rim.
When they added a flurry of 3s, they nearly pulled it off.
After 76ers center Joel Embiid made a pair of free throws to interrupt the Rockets’ run, Eric Gordon knocked down a long 3-pointer to bring the Rockets within 108-99 with 3:54 left. John Wall, who scored 26 second-half points, knocked down consecutive 3-pointers. After he drew an offensive foul on Danny Green, Wall went to the line trailing by five with 1:28 left.
Wall, however, made one of two free throws. Embiid scored.
The Rockets’ run was over.
With the game down to the final minute, the Rockets were forced to foul with the Sixers closing out the win from the line, where they made 28 of 32 attempts.
The final free throws gave Embiid 31 points with 11 rebounds and nine assists. Wall had 28 points for the Rockets, with DeMarcus Cousins and Jae’Sean Tate each adding 19, Tate matching his career high.
Long before the Rockets made their second-half run, they had started nearly as well. That, however, lasted roughly four minutes. Rather than making their usual push from a double-digit deficit, their first good stretch came at the opening tip. It ended rapidly.
Once the Rockets got that out of the way, they were crushed on both ends and every place in between through the first half. A game after allowing a season-high 72 points in the first half in Washington, they gave up 69 by halftime in Philadelphia, trailing by 26.
They were helpless to stop the Sixers, even with Ben Simmons sitting out and Embiid seeming to struggle with the back stiffness that had him sitting out against the Jazz on Monday.
Everyone else got nearly every
shot they wanted. Other than centers Dwight Howard and Embiid, the Sixers made of 25 of 34 shots in the first half. Green and Seth Curry combined to make 7 of 10 3-pointers.
The Rockets’ play was just as disastrous on the other end. After making 4 of 6 3-pointers to start the game, they made 1 of 16 in the rest of the half. Averaging 13.3 turnovers in the losing streak, one area that had not been an issue, they had 13 in the first half.
Wall, coming off perhaps his best individual performance of the season, had five of the turnovers, matching the second-most he has had in any game this season and made just 1 of 6 shots.
The depleted bench
combined to make 3 of 12 shots, 1 of 8 3-pointers, scoring just eight points.
After clearing their bench in four of the six games in the losing streak,
the Rockets seemed close to ready to do again at halftime.
Instead, after Embiid returned to his customary levels of dominance and
the Sixers pushed their lead to 29, the Rockets got going enough to pull within 16 in the third quarter and trailed 96-79 heading to the fourth.
That did not seem to be enough of a run to offer much of a chance to threaten the safe cushion the Sixers had built in the first half. But Wall had turned things around, scoring 12 points in the third quarter. Danuel House Jr. showed signs of escaping his shooting slump. Tate continued to produce.
With Cousins nearly matching Embiid, the Rockets crept within 13 with 7½ minutes left then got hot.
They could not have any let up, however. When they missed a few shots in the final two minutes, they ran out of time. But of all the losses they had strung together, this one became their favorite.