Houston Rockets Game 66 of 2015-16 Season vs Hornets

Houston Rockets Game 66 of 2015-16  saw the squad tipping off versus the Charlotte Hornets.

Continuing SCS series of all 82 games from last season next up is the Houston Rockets Game 66 of 2015-16 versus the Charlotte Hornets.

Mar 12, 2016; Charlotte, NC, USA; Charlotte Hornets guard Kemba Walker (15) goes up for a shot against Houston Rockets guard James Harden (13) in the first half at Time Warner Cable Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports

The Houston Rockets added draft picks and signed free agents to improve upon an especially mediocre 41-41 campaign. Big man Dwight Howard left for Atlanta while free agents Ryan Anderson, Eric Gordon, Nene Hilario and Pablo Prigioni joined Houston in free agency.

Hopes are these additions and the growth of existing assets will translate into a season similar to 2014-15. While fans wait for opening night on October 26th versus the Lakers hopefully this series will appease your cravings.

To that end, this series showcases the Rockets 82 games noting the pregame analysis, post game grades, and relevant video. Furthermore, SCS will highlight significant changes made by their opponents this summer. So, here it is – – enjoy all 82 posts as SCS takes you back over the 2015-16 season.

Game 66 – Hornets

Pregame Analysis:

Houston Rockets enter the day in a position H-Town hasn’t seen much of this season: the SEVENTH playoff seed.

More impressively the Rockets have been playing their most complete ball of the season. Furthermore, Houston are suddenly within a game of sixth place Portland. Charlotte have hit a tough stretch of their schedule while the Rockets still have tough matches on tap.

How ironic all it took to seemingly wake up the Rockets were the second and third seeds of the East and double digit winning records. Though we know the Rockets have a tendency to get up for big games these wins have appeared to be more about what’s been lacking all season – focus and consistency. Today they’ll meet up with another up and coming East team in the Hornets. And, oh yeah they just happen to be on a 6-game win streak, the longest current streak in the NBA. The Rockets have literally been streak busters having ended 2 home court streaks in Toronto (12) and Atlanta (14). In other words THIS Rockets team is the one we expected to arrive in October! 

The hive may be known best for one of their owners – Michael Jordan. Although this season Charlotte laid claim to one of the few top 10 ranked teams on both ends (prior to dealing with a run of injuries). Still, like the Rockets they’ve recently moved up to the fifth seed and are only 2 games out of third and one from taking over fourth. Suffice to say this is a big game for both squads with post season implications on the table.

The full pregame analysis Houston Rockets Game 66 can be viewed here.

Post Game Analysis:

After winning three tough away games and breaking a couple home-win streaks, the Rockets went to North Carolina to face one of the hottest teams in the league right now: the Charlotte Hornets.

With the help of Marvin Williams’ sharp shooting the Hornets managed to open up a nice lead that had the Rockets in the backseat for the entire game.

Smartly enough J.B. Bickerstaff soon detected Charlotte’s weakness inside the paint and looked to take advantage of it exploring the strength of Dwight Howard and Montrezl Harrell under the rim.

In the fourth quarter it was pretty obvious the Rockets ran out of gas and Charlotte went in for the kill knocking down an impressive number of consecutive three point shots. – Andre Cantalogo

The full post game analysis Houston Rockets Game 66 can be viewed here.

Stat Leaders:

As per Cantalogo he selected Brewer and Williams as the especially relevant players of the night:

Houston Rockets Game 66 NBA.com box score.

Rockets Games vs Hornets in 2016-17

• January 10th at home
• February 9th in Charlotte at Time Warner Cable Arena

Draft Picks and Free Agents

Charlotte earmarked Batum and Williams as priorities to re-sign and accomplished that goal. Several free agent additions followed though the Hornets lost key contributors Jefferson, Lin and especially Courtney Lee.

Draft Picks:

Hornets gave up their 22nd draft pick in a trade to Kings  for the rights to freshman guard Malachi Richardson, in exchange for Marco Belinelli

Incoming Free Agents/trade:

• Marco Belinelli  (trade)
• Roy Hibbert 1-year, $5M
• Ramon Sessions 2-years, $12.5M
  
• Brian Roberts 1 year minimum contract exits Portland
• Christian Wood on a 2-year minimum
• Treveon Graham and Mike Tobey to 2-year minimum deals ($1.4M) with $75k guaranteed in training camp invites.

Exiting Free Agents/traded: 

• Al Jefferson 3-years, $30M to Pacers
• Courtney Lee 4-years, $50M to Knicks
• Jeremy Lin  3-years, $36M to Nets
• Troy Daniels  3-years, $10M deal in a sign and trade deal with Grizzlies

RFA Qualifying Offer:

• Daniels moves to exiting

Re-upping:

• Nicolas Batum 5-years, $120M
• Marvin Williams 4-years, $54.5M

Unresolved:

• Tyler Hansbrough
• Jorge Gutierrez

More Free Agent News

Next: Updated Free Agency Report

Next: Free Agency Profiles for all 30 Teams

Due to the large Houston Rockets fan base, SCS is always looking to add new talent to our writing team. To that end, we’re looking for individuals with a specialized focus.  Specifically, the first area  is perfect for someone who constantly surfs for breaking news on injuries, trades, insider info. Consequently this individual would select top news items providing timely quick hits to keep SCS readers in the loop.

The other writer would possess an especially strong social media background and would like to interact with Clutch City Fans. Therefore this person will promote SCS team content on facebook and twitter. As a result the successful candidate will  make sure to promote the best content coming from H-Town fans. In conclusion, if you’re a budding writer who possesses these qualities vist the SCS link, and fill out an application