Wood left out in 4th quarter
For a second consecutive game, Rockets center Christian Wood largely was left out of the Rockets offense in the fourth quarter on Sunday. He said that will need to change.
When asked what was most frustrating about the Rockets’ 20th straight loss, other than the loss itself, the Rockets leading scorer said, “We’re not playing together.”
The Rockets had 22 assists, matching their average per game. Just four were in the fourth quarter with just one in the final eight minutes of the game.
Wood took just two shots in the fourth quarter, one a corner 3 with less than two minutes left. He had just one attempt in the three and a half minutes he played in the fourth quarter on Friday.
“Just the ball movement,” Wood said of what needs to be better. “The assists we had tonight as a team, we should have more than that with the players we have, everybody being back. I would like to be more involved in the offense going down the stretch. There were often times I’ve been left in the corner and taken out of the offense. It kind of takes me out of rhythm.”
Rockets guard John Wall, however, did not agree that ball movement was an issue.
“I think we’re moving the ball,” Wall said. “I think we’re sharing the ball. At times, we’re just not making shots. We’re driving and kicking, and guys are not making shots. At the end of the day, just making the right play is all you can really worry about.
“I don’t really think so about playing together. We haven’t even had the group together more than five games where everybody’s been together at once. It can get like that.”
Back-to-back may cause depth issue
With the Rockets losing streak at 20 games, there will be no time to recover and little time to prepare.
The loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday was in the Rockets’ first game in a back-toback, with the Rockets on Monday to face the Toronto Raptors, who, after a stretch of games with players out because of the NBA health and safety protocols, has no one out.
The Rockets could be shorthanded, with Victor Oladipo likely to sit out the second half of the back-to-back. Christian Wood and John Wall, who only recently returned from injuries, played 36 and 35½ minutes, respectively, on Sunday. Eric Gordon, David Nwaba and Dante Exum are out, D.J. Augustin missed Sunday’s game with a stomach illness and the 10-day contract of guard Mason Jones expired.
But more than just potentially missing starters, the Rockets were at a loss to what can be said to pick themselves up from the most disheartening of losses.
“We have no choice,” Rockets coach Stephen Silas said. “We have no choice but to pick up and try hard and learn and grow. It starts with me.”
When Wood was asked what the Rockets could say to one another then, Wood said only, “I don’t know.”
Wall said having a game on Monday might be the for the best.
“(Silas) said we got another tomorrow,” Wall said. That’s how you look at it. The most important thing is to get off the grid of losing and try to get one win. That’s how we got to look at it and approach it and play at a high level and get the job done. Nobody is going to feel sorry for us.”
Thunder expose rebounding trend
No team scores fewer second-chance per game that the Oklahoma City Thunder.
No team has scored more in a game against the Rockets this season than the Thunder did on Sunday.
Playing a team that ranks last in secondchance points, averaging just 9.1 per game, the Rockets allowed 19 offensive rebounds, leading to 23 second-chance points, matching the most allowed by the Rockets all season.
“The boards killed us,” Rockets coach Stephen Silas said. “They had 19 offensive boards. We had 30 defensive boards. That tells you how much the boards were the game, really. Yeah, I got to do better.”
It was unclear what he could do to grab a rebound. The problem, however, was obvious.
“It’s very simple,” Rockets guard John Wall said. “We don’t get 50/50 balls. We keep getting outrebounded. When we do get stops, they’re getting the offensive rebound and they hit a big 3 or an offensive layup. It’s kind of simple to read it. When we do get our stops, we have to do a better job getting out in transition, scoring and creating. On top of that, when we do get stops, we can’t let them get offensive rebounds.”