The Rockets should officially be worried about their losing streak

The Houston Rockets have had a storybook 2024-25 NBA season.

Not every story has a happy ending.

This won't be an entire piece of gloom and doom. The Rockets are still in an optimal position. They're teeming with young talent and assets and highly competitive.

Lately, they're losing games.

Granted, the Rockets have been injured. That excuses some of the difficulties they've encountered during this 4-game skid. In Tuesday's loss to the Nets, that excuse falls flat. The Rockets had the pieces they needed to beat one of the worst teams in the NBA.

They just didn't get the job done.

Rockets lose to a lottery team

Without Alperen Sengun, the Rockets' offense has stagnated. Last night, he was back in action.

On a surface level, he instantly returned to form. Sengun had 24 points and a robust 20 rebounds with 4 assists. Unfortunately, he was 8/18 from the field. That's not abysmal, but given that the Turkish big man didn't attempt a single three, it's subpar efficiency.

Subpar efficiency was the name of the Rockets' game in this contest. They were 41.0% from the field in total. Amen Thompson was 3/6, but with that volume, the efficiency is a moot point - not to mention that he had 8 assists to go with 7 turnovers.

Perhaps that's the key stat. Without Fred VanVleet, the Rockets don't have a floor general. Unfortunately, reliance on Fred VanVleet is problematic for the Rockets. They want to be able to win games when the bulk of their young core is available.

If there's a silver lining from this game, it's a career-best night from Reed Sheppard. He had 16 points to go with an impressive 7 rebounds. It wasn't a perfect game for the rookie - Sheppard was 5/14 from the field and did not register an assist - but it was nice to see the rookie play aggressively for once.

Should that be enough to satiate Rockets fans?

Rockets will be just fine

The sky is not falling. This is not catastrophic. The Rockets are on a 4-game losing streak during what's otherwise been an incredible season.

Moreover, it's worth noting that Houston was without two of their five starters against Brooklyn. VanVleet's impact on this team may be outsized relative to his long-term importance, but Jabari Smith Jr. has been integral to their defense and floor spacing as well.

If you were high on the Rockets before, that should not have changed. That said, the short-term outlook is beginning to shift. The Rockets have slipped from the second to the third seed, and the Nuggets are nipping at their heels in the fourth spot. The fifth-seeded Lakers just made a trade - apparently, a pretty significant one. The competition is getting fierce:

To secure a happy ending, the Rockets will have to be fiercer.