Rockets lose third straight to Miami to start the season

Well, that was no fun.

The Rockets, who at one point led by 21 points, dropped a third straight blowout loss to the Miami Heat on Sunday, losing 109-89. Marcus Thornton led the Rockets with 21 points. James Harden added 16 on just 2-15 shooting from the field.

This one was bad, but it wasn't bad from start to finish. The Rockets came out firing in the first half, scoring 35 points in the first quarter. Thornton was brilliant. Clint Capela was big. The ball was like, moving because of people's passing and spacing? Remember when that was a thing? Good times, man. Good times...

That all stopped after halftime. After leading at the half by 19, Houston scored just 26 points for the rest of the entire game. The staggering defense that let up just 14 points in the second quarter was completely gone. There seemed to be a lid on the basket. The ball stopped moving, and the Heat took advantage.

Miami roared back on what felt like a 1,000,000-0 run as the Rockets lead slowly dwindled away and then very quickly turned into what topped off at a 22 point deficit. Chris Bosh led the charge, scoring all 10 of his points in the fourth quarter.

Whether it is coaching, or team chemistry, or Lil B, or whomever James Harden is dating, the Rockets have a lot to figure out, and the biggest issue is that they don't have a lot of time to do it.

Ty Lawson can't be a non-factor. Dwight Howard has to play. Everyone on the team has to be better than this. Maybe that's over-simplifying it, but it's also not wrong. It's an issue the team is going to have to fix, and the early season struggles are absolutely a cause for concern. Concern is fine. There are many games to go, but they're going to have to figure it all out pretty quickly. The Western Conference is an unforgiving beast, and the Rockets should know that better than anyone else as they finish the second end of a back to back against the Oklahoma City Thunder tomorrow.