Rockets' frustrating coaching failure costs them critical Nuggets game

The Houston Rockets want to beat opponents with size. That's fine, but when it isn't working, they need to pivot. Against the Nuggets on Monday, it did not work.

Granted, there are a lot of reasons why the Rockets lost this game. Some of them, arguably, wear stripes. A dubious call against Amen Thompson down the stretch changed the entire complexion of this contest.

Full transparency: I think it was a bad call. Some will disagree. In any case, the Rockets could have won this one with some strategic maneuvering:

But Ime Udoka stuck to his guns.

Rockets fail to dominate in a key area

Against Denver, the Rockets corralled 12 offensive rebounds. That's far below their season-long, league-leading average of 16.4 per game.

That comes as no surprise. The Nuggets are a middling rebounding team. Their 44.6 boards per game rank 14th in the NBA. Still, this team has the size to make adjustments and stop a team like Houston from dominating the glass:

And that's what they did.

Denver ran Nikola Jokic alongside Jonas Valanciunas at times during this game. There's a difference between that formation and an Alperen Sengun / Clint Capela or Steven Adams duo:

Both Nuggets bigs space the floor.

Most NBA teams don't have the personnel to put two rotation-caliber bigs on the floor and match Houston's size. The Nuggets do, and they did a great job of keeping Houston off the glass.

The Rockets should have thrown a curveball in light of Denver's strategy.

Rockets need to experiment with their lineups

I wrote this article recently, but Monday's game reaffirmed my convictions:

The Rockets need to play Jabari Smith Jr. at the 5 sometimes.

In 2025-26, he's playing a career-low 3% of his minutes at the position. Once the Rockets signed Clint Capela, it was clear that they'd be looking to have brute strength at the 5 for every minute of every game.

That ought to be their default mode. There's no need to overhaul their attack. Still, when it's not working, Smith Jr. at the 5 is an option the Rockets should explore.

They'll often concede a rebounding advantage, but they weren't crushing Denver on the glass anyway. Imagine if Jokic and Valanciunas were tasked with closing Smith Jr. and Durant out on the perimeter? The Rockets could run Amen Thompson at the 1 and emphasize transition for a few minutes, tire the Nuggets' big men out, and force them to adjust. Then, the Rockets can get back to their primary strategy:

And hope certain questionable calls go their way.