Houston Rockets 86 – Oklahoma City Thunder 117 (Recap)

Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

The Houston Rockets went into the fourth game in five nights against the Oklahoma City Thunder with all hopes of leaving with a victory. Instead the Thunder scored the first 13 points unanswered and never looked back, leading to a 117-86 Oklahoma City Thunder victory.

The Rockets had just one turnover and allowed only one offensive rebound in the first half, the Rockets shot 33% from the field and were down 12. Houston scored first to start the second half with a Chandler Parsons three pointer. The Thunder then went on a 10-0 run and that was the ballgame. Kevin Durant scored 33 points, and nabbed 13 boards. Jeremy Lamb had a career-high 22 points against his former team.

Of course majority of the blame will fall on fatigue, as the Rockets finished the game shooting 31-85 (36%) and 7-28 (25%) from deep. Just as bad as that was the Rockets also shot 17-31 (54%) from the free throw line.

Omri Casspi (15 points), Aaron Brooks (17 points), and Chandler Parsons (15 points) were the only Rockets to score in double figures. Dwight Howard scored 9 points (4-13 from the field) and had 9 rebounds. James Harden finished with 8 points on 2-9 shooting. In the last two Rockets victories, Jeremy Lin exploded in the fourth, but that scenario did not play out against the Thunder. Lin scored 6 points on 2-9 shooting, had 1 assist and 3 turnovers.

On the bright spot, Rockets rookie Isaiah Canaan got to play 7 minutes and scored 4 points.

Following this stretch of 8 games in 12 nights, the Rockets have just 3 games over the next 10 days. Next up for the Rockets is back home Tuesday against the Sacramento Kings.