Road trip starts with trying to end skid in Miami
The Rockets will move from the games against the team that averages the most points in the NBA to a road game against the team averaging the fewest. Things will not get easier.
The Rockets came within three-tenths of a second of beating the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday, but a last-minute implosion turned a five-point lead and a likely win to a loss. After giving up 140 and 130 points in consecutive games, the Rockets will face a Heat team averaging a league-low 108.6, making them the only team averaging fewer points than the Rockets.
The Heat, however, have averaged 118.6 points in the past two seasons against the Rockets.
As the Rockets begin a fivegame stretch on the road before and after the All-Star break, the Rockets have lost their past five games against the Heat, and five consecutive games in Miami.
Here are five things to watch in Friday’s game:
It takes a Herro
Heat guard Tyler Herro had a career-high 41 points to lift the Heat to a win Dec. 15 in Houston a day after he had what was then a career-high 35 points in Oklahoma City.
He joined James Harden and Stephen Curry as the only players to have had at least nine 3-pointers in consecutive games.
Over his last five games, Herro averaged 21.2 points, 4.6 assists and 5.2 rebounds while making 3.0 3-pointers per game at a rate of 41.7 percent.
To draft or not to draft
The Rockets have drafted seven players with first-round picks in the last two years, and including that haul began the season with nine players who were first-round picks, three second-round picks and five undrafted players.
One of their three top-10 picks, Eric Gordon, is now gone via a deadline deal, as is former second-rounder Bruno Fernando and undrafted wing Garrison Mathews.
Contrast Houston’s roster construction to Miami’s. The Heat began the season with 10 undrafted players, the most in the league, and are left with eight after they traded Dwayne Dedmon to the Spurs this week and waived guard Dru Smith earlier this season. Miami’s likely starting lineup for Friday’s game features two undrafted players in Caleb Martin and Gabe Vincent, as well as a trio of former first-round picks in Herro, Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo.
Welcome (maybe)
It is unclear whether any of the players Houston acquired in deals on Thursday will play for the Rockets on Friday, or at all this season.
Guard Danny Green, who was traded from Memphis, and guard Justin Holiday and center Frank Kaminsky, who arrive from Atlanta, are all on expiring contracts and set to become free agents after the season. The Rockets are expected to buy out guard John Wall, who was part of the three-team deal that sent Gordon to the Clippers, for a second time.
Green, Holiday and Kaminsky may not receive much playing time with the Rockets if the team’s objective is to clear minutes for young players who have been stuck in a rotation backlog this season, such as Josh Christopher and Usman Garuba.
So long, EG
The trade that sent Gordon to the Clippers on Thursday ended a multi-year saga of speculation over the veteran guard’s future and opened up a spot in the Rockets’ starting lineup.
Gordon started in each of his 46 games played for Houston this season, and averaged 13.1 points on 43.9 percent shooting, 34.7 percent 3-point shooting. He had assumed greater scoring responsibility and played as a point guard lately while Kevin Porter Jr. was injured.
Christopher and Daishen Nix each started a game for the Rockets alongside guard Jalen Green when Gordon and Porter were both out. The Rockets lost both of those games by double digits. But Christopher has looked increasingly comfortable and confident in his recent opportunities. Friday could represent another for him, though the Rockets might go with Nix if they want to prioritize putting ball handling on the floor.
Pass the Turkey
With Porter still out, point guard play remains a question for Houston. Then again, the Rockets get plenty of playmaking from Turkish center Alperen Sengun.
Sengun had 18 points and a career-high 11 assists against the Kings on Wednesday. Over his last 14 games played — coinciding with Porter’s absence — Sengun has 93 assists after he totaled 95 through his first 36 games played this season.
Sengun has managed to be the Rockets’ best passer while also being one of the most efficient isolation scorers in the NBA. His average of 1.30 points per possession in isolation ranks in the 97th percentile of all players.