Rockets must find some answers on offense against the Pacers

The Houston Rockets are on the second night of a back-to-back and the third game in four days. They must find some answers on the offensive end of the court.

The Houston Rockets have struggled, that’s no secret. Still, they are just 4-7 and have an improving defense that has looked better recently. They have held opponents under 100 points in each of the last four games but have split them. The main issue has been offense, something that was completely unexpected.

The Rockets have had an above-average offense each year that James Harden has been the star of the team, even during the dreaded 2015-16 season. Last year, they were first in the league in offensive rating.

This year is different, though. Currently, the Rockets are No. 27 in offensive rating, a truly awful number.

Let’s hope the Rockets can get back on track on that end of the court tonight as they face the Pacers. The Rockets beat them around a week ago, holding them to 94 points while scoring 98. They’ll probably need to break 100 to win tonight, they cannot rely totally on their defense this many games in a row.

Starting 5s

Rockets

Chris Paul/James Harden/James Ennis/P.J. Tucker/Clint Capela

Pacers

Darren Collison/Victor Oladipo/Bojan Bogdanovic/Thaddeus Young/Myles Turner

What to watch for

The Rockets will be without two bench weapons. Carmelo Anthony is out once again with an illness, as he also continues to discuss his role with the team, and Gerald Green will be out with an ankle sprain he suffered last night. That opens up more minutes for the likes of Gary Clark and Eric Gordon, but also should mean that Michael Carter-Williams will see some minutes, unfortunately.

Chris Paul makes this offense run. In each of the four straight games under 100 points for the Rockets, CP3 has struggled. His last game that he performed well? Against the Nets when the Rockets scored 119 points. He is a key part of the offense, obviously, and must be more than a big voice in the huddle.

Clint Capela dominated his matchup, Myles Turner, last time in Indiana. He’ll need to show that dominance again and outplay the young Turner. Clint has a double-double in seven of the last eight games and can definitely do that once again.

James Harden must be more efficient, too. He’s had two straight games of shooting under 37% and needs to work together with CP3 better like last season. Let’s hope that reconnection starts tonight and that they can lead the Rockets to victory.

Be sure to tune in to AT&T SportsNet tonight at 6:00 p.m. CT to watch Houston try to turn this season around!fds