Houston Rockets center Christian Wood kind of put the team in a tough spot this week after his comments about not feeling involved enough offensively.

“It wasn't difficult,” said Wood on his matchup with Nuggets star Nikola Jokic on Saturday. “I think it could have been better if I was more involved in the offense.”

It was tough to tell considering how crazy the game in Denver was, but Wood indeed had a season-low 11 field goal attempts. The Rockets were generating a lot of their offense through guard Eric Gordon, who was having a fantastic game. The context of that specific game didn't necesitate Christian Wood offensive possessions. Wood responded by attempting a new season-low five field goal attempts on Sunday against the Warriors.

Wood was clearly passing up open looks:

“No, I don't think so,” said head coach Stephen Silas on if the Wood situation needed to be corrected or addressed in any way. “We've had conversations about his aggressiveness. The Golden State game was almost like a perfect storm in that he had one of the best individual defenders in the league guarding him, our ball movement wasn't great, we were turning the ball over, and he was frustrated.”

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Silas said something similar right after the game, but it's hard not to notice that Wood was left on the bench longer than normal in the first half. He also passed up opportunities at wide-open shots. It was clearly something that extended beyond being defended by Draymond Green.

“I was definitely frustrated,” continued Silas. “I thought he did better in the second half. It was just an unfortunate storm of events, but he's anxious to play tomorrow for sure.”

The Rockets play on ESPN for the first time this season on Wednesday against the Detroit Pistons. Although he did walk back his comments, this will be a nice game for Wood to reestablish himself.

“I know I have to be better and I will be better for my team,” said Wood. “I just have to lead by example. I'm one of the leaders and I have to show that each and every night. I think the last game was probably one of the worst games I ever had in my career. I don't expect to have another game like that.”

It also does seem like the Rockets have dealt with the issue internally.Wood was at practice on Tuesday in a visibly good mood and interacted with all his teammates and coaches. He also sent out this tweet:

https://twitter.com/Chriswood_5/status/1458152880641302530

“He was frustrated that we lost the game,” said Silas in response to Wood's postgame comments. “At times when you're frustrated, you'll say things that maybe don't align with how you really feel or align with how things really happened. And I understand his frustration. We lost a game that we think we should have won on that hard trip.”

The Rockets are on a eight-game losing streak, so it's very possible that the comments and subsequent play came from a place of frustration. But as the best player on the team and one of its leaders, Wood can't make stuff like this a regular occurrence.

“I don't think there's anybody who believes more in Christian Wood than I do,” continued Silas. “Our relationship goes far beyond the Rockets. I know where his heart is. I know where his heart was at that moment as far as being frustrated that we lost. And that's what it is.”

Wood certainly has plenty of time to redeem himself and put the past couple games behind him. If he does or not is anyone's guess.

“I want to win,” said Wood. “I'm very competitive. My teammates know that. My teammates know how competitive I truly am. I just have to go out there and show it and turn these games into wins.”