Injury ends Porter’s return to lineup after four games
The Rockets will interrupt their longest stretch of home games of the season — 10 out of 12 games — but not for long.
With the trip to Indianapolis to face the Pacers on Thursday, the Rockets will have their fifth onegame road trip in the past seven weeks and their last of the season.
They do bring their longest road winning streak of the season to Indianapolis, but they have won just one consecutive road game.
The Pacers have been off since Monday, when they played their first game at home after a fourgame trip, losing 147-143 to Philadelphia. They are 18-16 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse and have a six-game winning streak in games against the Rockets.
They are 2½ games behind the Wizards for the final Eastern Conference play-in spot.
Here are five things to watch in the matchup of the Rockets and Pacers.
Road worrier
As much as the splits between Jalen Green’s shooting in wins and losses has been extreme and conspicuous, the difference between his marksmanship at home and on the road is an obvious issue that has caught his attention.
Green has made 45.5 percent of his shots and 36 percent of his 3-pointers in Toyota Center. Everywhere else, he has made 37.1 percent and 31.2 percent of his 3s.
“Yeah, terrible on the road,” Green said. “I got to get better at playing on the road. I noticed that about my game. That’s something that I can build into and get better at. I don’t know what it (is.) Maybe the flight, just the atmosphere in other arenas. I don’t know; it’s just different. I love being home.”
Green made 7 of 14 shots, including 6 of 9 3-pointers, in Indianapolis last season in his first game back after missing a month with a hamstring injury.
In his four games played since the All-Star break, he has averaged 21 points on 46.5 percent shooting, and 38.7 percent 3-point shooting. He also made 38.7 percent of his 3s after the All-Star break last season.
Getting the point
Just four games after Rockets point guard Kevin Porter Jr. returned after missing 20 games with a toe injury, he will be out again Thursday.
Porter was ruled out with a bruised left thigh after sitting out Wednesday’s practice. He seemed to struggle after a collision in Tuesday’s loss to the Nets, making 2 of 11 shots, though he did have seven assists.
“It’s unfortunate,” coach Stephen Silas said. “It’s unfortunate that it happened, but it’s unfortunate that we’ve been in this situation before.”
Porter had been determined to play through “manageable pain” in his toe for the rest of the season. Silas spoke with Porter for several minutes after practice Wednesday in part to help him deal with disappointment about going out so soon after he had returned.
“We communicate all the time and talk through those moments and … it’s up to me to make sure he’s good and has someone to bounce his feelings off of at times,” Silas said. “It’s not always comfortable conversations, but it’s necessary because adversity is hard for everybody, not just basketball players. My position with this group and him specifically is to be someone you can talk to and help you through those moments. It makes me feel good and hopefully it makes him feel good, too.”
With TyTy Washington Jr. assigned to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers in the G League on Wednesday, a move that indicates the Rockets do not expect Porter’s absence to be long-term, the Rockets could move Jae’Sean Tate back into the starting lineup or go with Daishen Nix. Nix did not play in the past two games. The Rockets are 2-4 in his starts.
Fuzzy math
The Rockets’ customary 3-point deficit was particularly apparent in Tuesday’s loss, when the Nets made 37.5 percent of their 3s, the Rockets 26.9. With just seven 3-pointers on Tuesday, the Rockets have averaged 9.4 per game since the All-Star break, by far the fewest in the NBA in that stretch. The Rockets’ 32.7 percent 3point shooting is last in the league.
The Pacers average 13.9 3s per game, the fifth-most in the NBA, averaging 14.9 on 39.4 percent shooting since the All-Star break. Guard Buddy Hield’s 242 3-pointers are the most in the NBA, with his 3.7 per game ranking fifth-most. He has made at least five 3-pointers in 20 games but made just 3 of 15 shots in the first game against the Rockets.
It’s a Ty
When the Pacers’ Tyrese Haliburton missed a game last week, the Pacers were blown out by the Spurs. In the games he has played since the AllStar break, the Pacers have won three of five, taking only high-scoring, narrow losses to the Celtics and 76ers.
Haliburton has been sensational since the break, averaging 27.6 points on 57.1 percent shooting, 48.6 percent 3-point shooting and 12.2 assists. He is second in the NBA in assists per game, averaging 10.3 and second in points/assists doubledoubles with 30.
Get ready to run
The Rockets have made a point to push the pace in recent games, but they will need to get running in the other direction, too.
Only the Jazz allows more fast-break points per game than the Rockets. No team averages more points on the break than the Pacers.
The Rockets give up so many points on the break because of their leaguehigh average of turnovers, but the Pacers do not rely on forcing turnovers to run. They look to push pace at every opportunity.
The Rockets had cut back on turnovers, averaging 12.5 in their first six games after the All-Star break. But they had 19 against the Nets, leading to 21 points. They also went from averaging 25.3 assists in those six games to just 14 on Tuesday.
The Nets did not take advantage, getting just four fast-break points The Pacers will be considerably more eager to get up and down.