Houston avoid late disaster in the fourth, pull off needed win on the road.
The Houston Rockets should be glad they walked out of this game with a victory. In what was a very poor game on the offensive side of things, and a near defensive blowup in the fourth quarter, the Rockets still getting a win is what matters. However, there are still plenty of questions surrounding Houston so far this season after yet another game in which they’ve struggled to shoot the ball well.
Only shooting 40.9% from the field and 20.6% from three, it’s safe to say the offense wasn’t what won Houston the game. And while Alperen Sengun’s 27 points and 10 rebounds helped tremendously along with Tari Eason’s 18-9 with a few clutch buckets helped lead the way, outside of those two weren’t many positives on offense for the Rockets.
Fred VanVleet put up another disappointing performance, only shooting 3-13 from the field and 1-7 from downtown, his season continuing to move up and down in momentum. Jabari Smith Jr. had a team low -12 in the plus-minus column to go with six points on 2-8 shooting, his starting spot seemingly looking in grasp for a guy like Tari Eason here soon. Then for Jalen Green, a highlight reel worthy posterizing dunk on Cade Cunningham will be what’s remembered from him in this game despite the poor efficiency and questionable shot selection.
Again, it was just a very poor outing from the Rockets when it came to putting the ball through the hoop. On the opposing side of the ball though, it was yet again another very solid outing by Houston’s defense. Forcing 18! turnovers and allowing less than 100 points from Detroit is the main takeaway in this one. As much as the offense struggled to score, this defense would come right back and get a stop of their own, keeping the game close with Tari Eason being the main catalyst of that.
But, the late game scare is what truly defined this one in Detroit. A split pair of free throws by Alperen Sengun with just eight seconds left gave Houston a three point lead which was cut down to two following a split pair by Cade Cunningham for the Pistons. The second free throw, intentionally missed was offensively rebounded by Detroit, and a very odd scenario in which Jaden Ivey missed a corner three right into the hands of Tobias Harris who was fouled going up left the Rockets in a tough situation with only seconds left. Two missed free throws by Harris sealed the deal for the Rockets however, and in what was a back and forth game ended in favor of the visiting team from Houston.
Overall, Houston moved to 6-4 on the season, even if the win was sloppy and ugly. Their next game will back at Toyota Center up against the 2-6 Washington Wizards Monday night in what should be hopefully another victory for the Rockets. Looking to move onto 4-2 at home on the year, Houston faces the end of a back to back which is always tough, but per usual, very winnable. We’ll be back at 7:00PM CST to cover that one as well as on Playback, so make sure to tune in!