Houston Rockets Uninspired Effort Results in Loss to Dallas Mavericks

As soon as the game started, Houston Rockets fans realized this was going to be a long Saturday evening. Even without three starters, Dirk Nowitzki, Chandler Parsons and Wesley Matthews (who also happen to be their three best players) the Dallas Mavericks managed to secure a surprising win at Toyota Center.

110. 79. . 98. 169

The game was pretty much fully controlled by the Mavericks from the start. They never lost the lead or even had it threatened by a lethargic, effortless, seemingly feeling sorry-for-themselves Houston Rockets.

It was so bad, even legendary play-by-play commentator Bill Worrell referred to the Rockets in the first half saying Houston didn’t even look like a NBA team.

The second half was better overall, the Rockets succeeded in cutting into the Dallas lead, lowering it from 26 to just 11 points, much thanks to hustle plays by veteran Jason Terry and Terrence Jones.

The Rockets played without Dwight Howard and Patrick Beverley as expected but Montrezl Harrell could soon be added to the injury list as he turned his ankle in a play involving Dwight Powell.

Here’s a closer look at how bad things were

Rockets Player Grades

TREVOR ARIZA. D. 4 Points, 6 rebounds, 3 steals, 1-8 from the field, 24 minutes and 5 fouls. Trevor Ariza had more fouls than points. That in itself should explain his grade. For further clarification, allow me to say that Ariza had absolutely no impact on Houston’s defensive or offensive game. The man who many consider to be the Rockets thermometer looks completely uninterested. It pains me to say, but Ariza is no longer the Rockets most consistent player, even deserving to be benched.. SF. Houston Rockets

B-. 23 points, 3 blocks, 6 rebounds, 41 minutes for Houston Rockets best starter of the game. That’s not much however as tonight this was a pretty easy task seing that nobody excelled. Terrence Jones repeated his last night performance against Denver and was the only trustworthy choice on the offensive end. He shows effort on the defensive end and is trying to improve, however he still needs to grow a lot in that department.<span style=. PF. Houston Rockets. TERRENCE JONES

C. 7 points, 10 rebounds, 23 minutes. For some reason I believe McHale still doesn’t fully trust Clint Capela to spend big minutes on the court. He was not having a bad game, especially on the defensive end and didn’t commit fouls but the Rockets coach keep benching the big man from Switzerland. When Capela is on the court he changes shots and offers an alternative for the lob pass. Yet, he keeps getting benched every time even if the option is to go small. We had James Harden playing the power forward position today in some instances, which makes me wonder why Houston let Chuck Hayes go?. C. Houston Rockets. CLINT CAPELA

D. 7 points, 5 assists, 30 minutes. I’m not sure what’s going on with Ty Lawson. McHale last night made a few remarks regarding his performance. Those remarks were applicable again tonight: he is a much better player than he is showing. I have no reason to believe he can be the Rockets starting point guard anymore. Unless he starts showing up with the same 15 points 9 assists, being an aggressive slasher and 3-point threat that he was with the Nuggets, then there’s no reason to let him be in the starting lineup… or on the team for that matter.. PG. Houston Rockets. TY LAWSON

SG. Houston Rockets. JAMES HARDEN. D. I don’t buy the 25 points, 10 assists double-double that James Harden had. Those stats could fool you if you haven’t seem the game. The Beard was bad. He looks to be going back to his lazy self on defense. There was an unbelievable amount of back door plays James Harden allowed without a single effort to deflect the pass. On the offensive end, he keeps having success… from the charity stripe. He still can’t knock down the three-point shot (1-6) and continues to waste precious time dribbling the ball for 22 seconds of the shot clock. Then with 2 seconds remaining he passes the ball to a teammate who isn’t open. Why James Harden continues this weird habit of iso-ball and wasting the shot clock is beyond me especially when the team is clearly suffering?

Best Reserve

B. 19 points in 26 minutes for the Jet. I felt Jason Terry had an even better game than Terrence Jones. He was the only player on the team knocking down the three-point shot (5-9) and tried to do his best and keep fighting while the rest of the Rockets players were done for the night . G. Houston Rockets. JASON TERRY

Best Opponent:

23 points and 6 rebounds. Here’s hoping David Lee doesn’t play on Monday, because it’s becoming a trend with the Houston Rockets trying to revive opponents forgotten careers – starting with Andrea Bargnani and now <a href=. Point Guard. Dallas Mavericks. RAYMOND FELTON. A

Ray Ray ? #DALatHOU https://t.co/gU3VOtAls7

— Dallas Mavericks (@dallasmavs) 15 novembro 2015

3 Things We Saw

Are The Houston Rockets Lazy? I’m just getting to this conclusion after seeing another ludicrous display from Kevin McHale’s roster. They just don’t look that interested this year. The reason why everyone watching the games are amazed with Montrezl Harrell is not because he is an amazing player, but mainly when he gets inside the court he brings energy, intensity and a sense of urgency. All things that are lacking for the Rockets right now.

No more three-point shots, please: That’s probably the biggest challenge McHale has this year. The Rockets keep shooting a bad percentage (26.5% today). It’s just not happening, but the players keep shooting. The team must find a new identity and stop insisting on something that’s clearly not working.

Terrence Jones improvement: TJ seems to be playing for his life the last two games. After some bad performances, the Rockets power forward is looking more and more like his former self. Tonight he had 23 points (same as last night) and showed great composure on defense. To make him a more well rounded player though he should work harder on improving his three-point shot.

Next: Dekker Heading to D-League

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