Two nights after an encouraging performance in a close loss to the Lakers in Los Angeles, the Rockets followed it up with another strong road effort versus defending Western Conference champion Phoenix.
Unfortunately, given the tough opponent, it still resulted in a 123-111 loss (box score) for Houston — which dropped its sixth straight to fall to 1-7 on the 2021-22 season. The Suns (4-3) won their third straight game. The Rockets rallied from an 11-point deficit in the early going to take a lead well into the third quarter, but the defending West champs broke the game open with a 14-of-31 showing from 3-point range (45.2%).
Phoenix outscored Houston 67-50 in the second half, including 37-25 in a decisive third quarter. All-Star guard Devin Booker paced the hosts with 27 points and 9 rebounds, while backcourt mate and future Hall of Famer Chris Paul added 13 assists. The Rockets were led by Kevin Porter Jr. (20 points, 6 rebounds) and Christian Wood (18 points, 15 rebounds).
Read on for our assessment of individual Houston performances. Grades are limited to players who had at least 20 game minutes, since anything less wouldn’t represent a sufficient enough sample to evaluate. Grades are also decided relative to a player’s average performance — in other words, the standard for Wood is higher than it is for David Nwaba.
