Space City Scoop
Fansided

Houston Rockets Lose 4th Consecutive at Hands of Celtics 111 – 95

By Andre Cantalogo

facebooktwitterreddit

The Houston Rockets bad luck / bad effort streak continued as they succumbed to a fourth consecutive loss at home to the Boston Celtics. To that end, home court advantage is proving to be useless for the Rockets this year.

169. 111. 18. . 95

The Rockets keep playing lethargic basketball and are unable to put teams away or even mount a significant lead. Today Kevin McHale’s team managed to open a 15 point lead in the first half before letting it all go down the drain and the teams went to the locker room tied at 55 points a piece.

The Houston Rockets are still displaying the same mistakes from their last games, seemingly not learning from their mistakes. To wit, they are effortless on the defensive end. The number of unforced turnovers are ridiculous as they coughed up the ball 22 times tonight resulting in 39 points from the opponent. Furthermore the team insists on employing a three-point based strategy that is not working out this year. The third quarter resulted in the Celtics demolishing the Rockets as they opened a 20 point lead.

In the last minutes of the fourth quarter the Rockets bench led by Marcus Thornton, Corey Brewer and Terrence Jones managed to cut into Boston’s lead as they attempted to save face. Despite that effort the Rockets have now been defeated for the fourth consecutive time. Here’s a look at the individual player grades:

Rockets Player Grades

TREVOR ARIZA. A. Of all Rockets players I believe Trevor Ariza was the one starter that came inside the court with a totally different attitude. The small forward made key drives to the basket, managed to calibrate his three-point shot from the corner while adding some steals as well. Ariza was overall the most consistent player out there for the Rockets as he often is. He had 19 points and 9 rebounds. . SF. Houston Rockets

Houston Rockets. TERRENCE JONES. B-. Terrence Jones couldn’t find his rhythm through the first three quarters, however he picked up his effort on the fourth quarter when he played with a second unit full of energy and intensity. Jones ended up with 15 points and 8 rebounds.<span style=. PF

Good defense leads to a T-Jones and-1. https://t.co/bV9hKmIgls

— Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) November 17, 2015

Dwight Howard was a non factor on the offensive end today. The ball barely reached him on the post and he couldn’t find his shot. On the defensive end there’s only so much he could do alone. Howard ended up with just 5 points and 12 rebounds.. C. Houston Rockets. DWIGHT HOWARD. C-

D-. Integrating a point guard on a new team is a very hard task. You could risk ruining chemistry and the whole system could crumble. The talented Ty Lawson has just became every fans scapegoat for all of  Houston’s problems as it’s been suggested benching him as the first measure to be taken. Granted, he isn’t playing up to his standard and is definitely deserving to spend time on the bench. I tell you this much though: without Ty Lawson Houston has zero chance for a championship. Therefore, the team need to make a stronger effort to incorporate him into a system to which he is only just adapting to.  Lawson had 7 points and 5 assists.. PG. Houston Rockets. TY LAWSON

SG. Houston Rockets. JAMES HARDEN. D-. Harden knocked down some shots but at this point his performance is getting tiresome: He keeps letting the back door open for drives and easy layups, shows absolutely no effort on the defensive end and is hurting the team more than contributing to it. He had 4 Turnovers and 4 fouls to go with his mediocre 16 points. Harden was apathetic and showed absolutely no intensity thoughout the whole game.

Best Reserve

C+. Corey Brewer had a decent game. He was part of a last minute spark from the second unit and managed to end the game with 11 points, 3 steals and 3 assists.<span style=. SG. Houston Rockets. COREY BREWER

Best Opponent:

A+. How great is <a href=. G. Boston Celtics. ISAIAH THOMAS

3 Things We Saw

Bad Fastbreaks: One of the team’s greatest weapons last season, suffice to say it currently needs a lot of work. The team still creates a lot of fast breaks which is a good thing especially when originated from Trevor Ariza’s steals. However, when on a 2-on-1 situation or even 3-on-1 the players make nervous decisions that lead to charging fouls or turnovers when passing the ball. Even players like Corey Brewer that made a career on fastbreak opportunities can’t seem to figure it out this season. It goes without saying that the team is also losing -a lot- of layups.

More from Space City Scoop

Where’s the Rotation?: It’s tough to have the bench contribute when the role players are clearly not getting enough time to display their talents. Kevin McHale seems to have a habit of only subbing his starters when they are too tired or injured. It’s not a surprise that out of 30 teams and 150 starters, there are 3 Rockets between the 10 players with the most minutes on the court (Harden – 2nd, Lawson – 5th, Ariza – 10th). Today our rotation consists of Jason Terry, Montrezl Harrell, Clint Capela, Corey Brewer, Patrick Beverley and Marcus Thornton; of all those players only Brewer and Thornton have been averaging more than 20 minutes per game (22 for Brewer and 31 for Thornton) however Marcus Thornton seems to be falling from grace with coach McHale as he only saw some action in the fourth quarter.

Could McHale be on the hot seat?: Yes it’s still early in the season and it’s very possible that the Rockets could change the tide soon. Nevertheless, coach McHale seems lost. He can’t seem to understand how to change the team’s identity, his rotation minutes are all over the place. Marcus Thornton who until a week ago was a trustful starter, was benched for the first three quarters of the game. The boos just keep increasing day-by-day and the team lacks any sense of urgency or reaction power. We all know McHale just recently signed a three year extension, yet, something must change and from the looks of the crowd at Toyota Center, something must change fast.   

Next: It's Time To Move Lawson To the Bench

Make sure you catch up on our entire Team Preview Series, our Houston Rockets Player Profile Series as well as our SCS Round Table Sessions to help you get through the early season. Start your morning with SCS Rocket Science Daily and visit us throughout the day to keep abreast of all your Houston Rockets news and updates.

Home/Rockets News