After the Houston Rockets lost to the Denver Nuggets in a nail-biter on Saturday, they said the things you'd expect them to say. Competing hard against some of the best teams in the NBA and falling short every time would obviously put you in a bad mood. The team acknowledged that they were improving, but expressed dissatisfaction with the loss. And then Christian Wood said something in his presser that raised eyebrows.
“[It] wasn't difficult,” said Wood on his matchup with Jokic. “I think it would have been better if I was more involved in the offense.”
Wood did attempt a season-low 11 field goal attempts, but after the loss, this comment didn't read well. It creates unnecessary drama for what has been a happy-go-lucky rebuilding team. As most things go, the comment may have been forgotten about if Wood had played normally for the Rockets on Sunday.
Instead, Wood went the entire first half against the Warriors without attempting a field goal and grabbed just one rebound.
— Salman Ali (@SalmanAliNBA) November 8, 2021
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When you watch this Rockets game back, it's hard not to notice how Wood clearly didn't want to shoot the basketball. Whether or not he was trying to send a message by being so passive is anybody's guess. However, it's hard not to remember what he said the night before and make the obvious inference that he was.
“It was hard because Draymond Green was guarding him,” said Rockets head coach Stephen Silas after the game. “Usually it's a little bit easier to get him into actions. It was frustrating. He was frustrated. I was frustrated. But he came back and did a better job in the second half and I was proud of him for that.”
Again, it's possible that Silas was honest here, but it reads like a coach covering for his player's poor effort. Yes, Draymond Green is a fantastic defender, but that doesn't explain Wood passing up point-blank catch-and-shoot 3s. It doesn't explain why Wood was only able to secure one rebound. It's pretty obvious that Silas was playing it safe by not criticizing one of his best players in the media.
Rockets center Daniel Theis didn't have that same instinct, though.
“We need him to play good for us to win,” said Theis. “It's a team. We just got to stay together. We've played nine games out of 82. It's a long season. We can't just start questioning everything now and put our heads down. The season's too long.”
This is just a bizarre situation for Houston considering how well Wood took on the team leader role early in the season. He has been vocal in the locker room, he has accepted responsibilities for losses in the media when he hasn't had to, and he has played very well on the offensive end. There's no question that he's the most talented player on the team.
The Rockets have three days off before their next game, so it'll be interesting to see if Wood can be that aggressive offensive force for Houston again or if this situation spirals out of control.
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