Rockets put up fight but fall to Pacers 132-124

As predicted in the game thread, the Houston Rockets lost this one. But as also predicted in the game thread, they were also fun to watch, played hard until the end, and had some top-notch performers that made the game interesting despite the team’s 41st loss of the season, 132-124 to the Indiana Pacers.

Despite falling down big in the first half, going into the break with a 20-point deficit, the Rockets continued to have no quit in them, winning both the third and fourth quarter over Indiana and making this a tight game towards the end, but Houston didn’t quite have enough fire power to make a full sneaky run.

They had a plethora of good performers, however, being led by John Wall, who finished with 31 points, 3 rebounds, 9 assists, a steal, and 2 blocks on 12-28 from the field. They also got another big night from newcomer Kelly Olynyk, who continues to make a case for a nice free agent deal from someone over the summer. He finished with 25 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals, and a block on 10-16 shooting and combined with fellow frontcourt mate Christian Wood to make a formidable duo. Wood also finished with 25 points to go along with 13 rebounds, 2 assists, a steal, and 3 blocks on 11-21 shooting.

The Rockets also got 19 points from Kevin Porter Jr., and he also had 5 rebounds, and 3 assists, while Jae’Sean Tate had 11 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, and 2 steals. They all helped keep Houston competitive, but it wasn’t enough to push them over the top, as they shot just 10-34 from beyond the arc as a team and committed 15 turnovers, while giving up 53 percent shooting overall to Indiana along with 15-36 shooting from three.

As for the Pacers, they were led by Caris LeVert, who finished with 27 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, and 2 steals, which was a big help to my fantasy squad, and they also got 23 points, 14 rebounds, and 9 assists from Malcolm Brogdon, and 22 points, 11 rebounds, and 7 assists from Domantas Sabonis.

The bench pitched in too, which is something the Rockets didn’t have, with Jeremy Lamb finishing with 18, T.J. McConnell racking up 12 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, and 4 steals, and Oshae Brissett contributing 10.

Houston falls to 14-41 on the year, maintaining the integrity of the tank, while still having some interesting pieces to follow and some good stuff for my fantasy squad as well (Tate, Wall, Olynyk).

They’re are now off tomorrow but will return on Friday night in another home match, this time against the Denver Nuggets.