No Jokic, but Murray was enough for Denver.
All good things must end.
All things end.
No ten wins in a row.
Yet, it’s not as bleak as all that.
In this case the only thing that ended was the Rockets winning streak. They had won 9 in a row, though they played with fire, coming back from 25 points down to beat the 76ers. Despite giving up a game in the standing to Denver, and missing a chance to clinch the tiebreaker against the Nuggets, the Rockets remain, for now, in second place in the Western Conference.
Tonight, against a far better team than those generally faced for the winning streak in the Denver Nuggets, albeit without presumed NBA MVP Runner Up, Nikola Jokic, there would be no reprieve as there was against the 76ers.
It didn’t have to be this way. The game was close in the first half, with both the Rockets, and the Nuggets claiming the lead. The two teams were tied at 27 points apiece after the first quarter.
Probably Denver pulled away in the second quarter, right? Nope, after the Rockets held small leads, Denver would come back. That quarter also ended tied, 30-30.
From a dead even game at the half, something disastrous for the Rockets would occur. Jamal Murray, after a tepid first half would basically not miss. He didn’t miss on his herky-jerky drives and pull up jumpers. He didn’t miss at the basket. He didn’t miss three point shots off a staggered screen action the Rockets simply couldn’t solve. He threw lobs to a somehow revitalized DeAndre Jordan. It seemed like most of the Nuggets, in fact, couldn’t miss. Murray ended the night with 39 points on 15-28 shooting. He didn’t live at the line, either, going 5-6. He didn’t miss that much.
The Rockets? They very much could miss. A lot.
By the end of this quarter the Nuggets would lead by seventeen points, after winning the quarter 37-20, This is basically where the game was lost. The Nuggets generally execute too well to completely fall apart, even without Jokic. They are an experienced team that recently won a title. The Rockets are a team returning to the playoffs after a four year hiatus, and some grimly awful seasons.
That doesn’t mean the Rockets just gave up. That’s one of the best aspects of this team. They will often try, and fight, to come back and win. It’s very possible to say, though, that while the Rockets often very much do work harder than their opponents, it’s yet to be proven that they can work smarter.
This would prove the case in the fourth quarter. The Rockets used a two big lineup with their most effective player tonight, Steven Adams, and cut into the Denver deficit. With around six minutes remaining the Rockets only trailed by six points. Jamal Murray had for some odd reason abandoned his “Never Miss” approach, and missed shots.
The Rockets, though, could close the deal, or the score. They took bad shots. They turned the ball over. They missed close in. Fred VanVleet, after having his best game of the season, and possibly as a Rocket, in Miami, turned into a pumpkin. So despite the Rockets getting offensive rebounds quite often in the fourth quarter, Fred would fire off a quick, and awful, three point shot on receipt of a pass out of the offensive board.
The Rockets would come close, and were technically alive late, but of course, another growing problem surfaced for the Rockets: missing free throws. Tonight the Rockets went 22-34 from the line. You might have noted that the Nuggets margin of victory is well within the number of missed Rockets free throws. Denver, to be fair, also missed their share, going 18-26. But this is a mounting concern. Teams really can foul most Rockets late, and expect fairly good results right now. That’s going to be a problem in the playoffs if it persists.
Jalen Green had 30 points, but on 8-22 shooting. 3-12 from three, and 11-14 from the line.
Fred VanVleet was 2-12 tonight, 1-8 from three, and had five assists. He quite possibly shot the Rockets out of a comeback in the fourth.
Alperen Sengun continues a trend of posting good numbers, and had a very solid game. What he’s not doing is offering the sort of dominant closing runs he displayed early in the season, bringing close wins to the Rockets, very often of late. He had 17 points on 6-15 shooting, he also added 17 rebounds, 10 assists, 2 steals, and 1 block. He had no turnovers and played 40 minutes. There’s nothing to complain about, and yet, the Rockets need someone to close out games, and right now that person is?
It might be Dillon Brooks. Which is a problem. Dillon went 8-12, 5-8 from 3pt range, for 21 points. He added 3 boards and an assist.
Amen continues to defend well, and fill the stat sheet, but again, the sort of aggressive closing attack we saw earlier in the season wasn’t present last night. He’s not to blame, and he certain got his revenge on Tyler Herro in Miami, but going 0-4 from the free throw line is a bad trend to continue.
Overall it’s hard to complain about 2nd place in the West, and 9-1 over the last ten games. The Rockets needed to make hay with their homestand and easy schedule, and they did. It would have been nice to keep it going for a meaningful win against Denver, but evidently the Rockets aren’t quite there. Yet.