Rockets drop ninth in a row after 112-96 loss to Cavaliers

The Houston Rockets’ losing streak gets extended to nine in a row after their 112-96 blowout loss to the Cavaliers in Cleveland on Wednesday.

The Rockets struggled mightily to start off the game.

Houston, who is 29th in the league in three-point percentage, shot an abysmal 1/10 from the three-point line in the first. Cleveland, who is only one spot ahead of them in three-point percentage, knocked down a blistering 5-of-11 from deep. As a team, the Rockets shot only 6/25 from the field for an inexcusable 24%.

The Cavaliers led by 10 at the end of the first, as the Rockets could only muster up 17 points to their 27.

The second quarter would be a completely different story for a Rockets team that looked completely unable to knock down a shot in the first. Houston outscored Cleveland 33-21 in the second, went on an 11-2 run early in the period, and led by the end of the half, 50-48.

They also did it mostly with John Wall and Victor Oladipo on the bench.

Houston took over the game by changing their approach in the period. As a team, they took only six shots from deep and knocked down three of them. From inside the arc, they made 11 of their 14 two-point attempts — way up from their 5/15 shooting in the first quarter from two — including 22 points in the paint after scoring only 10 points in the paint in the first.

David Nwaba, as typical, came in like a ball of energy and scored seven points in the half on 3-5 shooting, played some great defense, and conjured up two blocks in the second quarter alone. Eric Gordon led the team in scoring in the half with 11 points, 4-8 from the field.

But the biggest and best moment of Houston’s tremendous second quarter came from Danuel House Jr. who finally caught a body on 7-footer Javale McGee.

Houston’s bench attributed for 24 of its 50 first-half points.

In what has been typical fashion during this losing streak, the Rockets lost the third quarter, big, 34-24 after winning the 2nd quarter,.

Unlike the second quarter, which was a great team effort on both ends, Houston depended on their star power to keep them in the match. Both Wall and Oladipo scored nine points a piece in the third, with Gordon shoring up the offense with four points of his own.

After a quiet first half, Darius Garland came into the third quarter and scorched Houston for thee-straight three-pointers to set the tone early for Cleveland’s offense. Houston continued to have zero answers for Jarrett Allen, who had a 10-point quarter to add into his 25-point total through three quarters.

The Rockets went into the final 12 minutes of the game down 74-82.

We’ve officially come to the part where I spare you the misery of reading about this game any longer and tell you that a second Rockets comeback never happened. Houston couldn’t buy a shot in the fourth quarter, while the Cavaliers extended their lead from the third to as much as 19 and got the game completely out of reach.

The Rockets shot 36-90 from the floor as a team for the game, while the Cavaliers shot 43-of-85. From deep, Houston knocked down 10 of their 33 attempts, and Cleveland made 16 of 36 attempts.

In their first game after cutting DeMarcus Cousins, Jarrett Allen did whatever he wanted against this newest era of Rockets small-ball. Allen scored 26 points, grabbed 18 rebounds, and had four blocks on 10-11 shooting, 1-1 from three. Collin Sexton scored 23 points on 9/19 shooting. Dylan Windler was a much-welcomed surprise for Cleveland, scoring 13 points on 4-4 shooting from the field, all of them from three.

John Wall led the way for Houston with 20 points on 7-18 shooting. Oladipo had 17 points, five assists, and six rebounds. Eric Gordon slowed down tremendously in the second half, shooting only, 1-6 in the half, 5-14 in the game for 17 total points. House and Nwaba had 14 and 12 points, respectively.

Houston is now one loss away from the dreaded double-digit losing streak. It also won’t get any easier for them, as they travel to Canada to face to Toronto Raptors on Friday.