Rockets Thunderstruck as Three-Game Winning Streak is Snapped

The Rockets came into Oklahoma City on a three game winning streak with a chance to get back to .500 with a win but ran into a hot Thunder team.

Houston had slowly seemed to be making progress during their road trip, but all that progress disappeared last night as Houston quickly found themselves down 10 by the end of the first quarter.

Houston’s defense was not the major problem throughout the night, as they held the Thunder to 98 points and did a decent job at defending the Thunder on the initial possessions.

Houston struggled to find any offense as they only scored 80 points for the entire night as James Harden led the team in scoring with a mere 19 points.

Chris Paul finished with 10 points and combined with James Harden for 10 turnovers.

Chris Paul has had a very slow start to the season from getting ejected to only shooting a very appalling 27.1 percent from three. Outside of the game in Brooklyn, Paul has not looked like himself at all.

Carmelo Anthony had a horrendous return to Chesapeake Energy Arena as he went 1-for-11 from the field, finished with 2 points and his only make came on a goaltending call.

Houston reverted to old habits as once again they failed to secure defensive rebounds as Thunder center Steven Adams abused the Rockets the entire night.

Oklahoma City outrebounded Houston 52-39 and were able to convert multiple times from the second chance opportunities that they were given.

P.J. Tucker was the lone bright spot for the Rockets as he finished with 13 points on an efficient 4/6 from the field.

As bad as this performance was, Houston must shrug it off as the west keeps coming.

The Rockets finish their five game road trip in San Antonio as they get to face the Demar Derozan-led Spurs team for the first time this season.

A win in San Antonio and the Rockets would have won four out of five on their longest road trip of the season.

Saturday’s game is also important as Houston has already lost a division game to the Pelicans so a win against San Antonio could be huge later on in the season. The Spurs are also another Western Conference foe and the Rockets record against the west has been a dreadful 1-6.

The Rockets will face another tough task on the boards as they will try to contain LaMarcus Aldridge and Pau Gasol in the paint.

Eric Gordon is questionable to return on Saturday and though he has also struggled to shoot from three, the Rockets need his driving ability to open up more opportunities for the bench as Houston needs to find a consistent source of offense when Harden is on the bench.