The Houston Rockets coughed up a 25-point lead in their 133-128 overtime loss to the New Orleans Pelicans on Thursday.
“That’s not who we are, and I hate that it happened like this,” Kevin Durant said after the game.
Durant is right in one respect; the Rockets have not been a team that routinely surrenders massive leads. Thursday was their largest blown lead of the season. However, a team that struggles to close out tight games is exactly who the Rockets have been all year, even after adding Durant in the offseason for that very reason.
The Rockets are only 6-7 in what the NBA defines as ‘clutch’ games: contests where the score is within five points in the final two minutes. This gives them the 18th-best record across the league in these sorts of games.
Houston is also just 1-3 in overtime games, dropping both extra-period games this week. On Monday, they let a lead slip away in the final seconds against Denver, and on Thursday slowly unraveled after building a 25-point lead.
Thursday was a microcosm of Houston’s issues.
“We lacked our whole identity in the second half,” Durant said after Thursday’s loss. “It’s something we can learn from and get better from. It sucks coming in here after playing great in the first half and coming out and getting [away from that]. That s— sucks.”
Houston was outscored 88-61 after halftime, wasting a game-high 32 points from Durant.
But the issues lie elsewhere. The Rockets committed 20 turnovers, missed three of four free throws down the stretch, Alperen Sengun went just 2-of-6 in the fourth quarter, and the supporting cast struggled to execute once the Pelicans forced the ball out of Durant’s hands.
Head coach Ime Udoka lamented those issues after the loss.
“Offensively, not only the turnovers – we had 11 at the half and didn’t get much better, had nine in the second half – but guys looked intimidated, scared, whatever, out of double teams to make plays,” Udoka said. “Teams are going to do that with Kevin [Durant] and Alperen [Sengun] and make others beat us. And we couldn’t execute tonight.”
Houston has already struggled in close games against quality opponents, going 0-5 against teams with better records. But losing this way to a 6-22 Pelicans team marked a new low. The late-game problems have become so persistent that even New Orleans could take advantage.
While Houston has been great at home, they’re just 8-6 on the road, where role players typically struggle. And when defenses force the ball out of Durant’s hands, those role players are struggling even more to make things happen down the stretch.
“We just lost focus,” Sengun said after Thursday’s loss. “Bad loss for us, but we’re going to bounce back.”
The problem is that bounce back will have to come in Denver on Saturday for a Rockets team that has now dropped three of its last four games.
“We’ve just got to regroup,” Durant said. “Everybody individually look themselves in the mirror. Just see how we can be better next game.”
