On paper, Sunday’s game versus Oklahoma City was the ideal spot for the Houston Rockets to end their franchise record losing streak. They were at home, their desired starting lineup was fully available, the Thunder are several games below .500, and OKC held out three starters in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Al Horford, and Darius Bazley.
Yet, it still wasn’t enough to stop the skid, with Houston (11-30) losing its 20th straight game with a 114-112 setback (box score). The ongoing streak is now among the 10 worst in NBA history.
Christian Wood (27 points, 8 rebounds), John Wall (24 points, 7 assists), Victor Oladipo (23 points, 6 assists), and Danuel House Jr. (18 points, 8 rebounds) all played well offensively, but it wasn’t enough to overcome a 52-38 rebounding advantage by the Thunder (18-24).
Much of the frustration came down to a lack of execution late in the game. Down by two with just over a minute left, Wall drove into the paint and drew a foul — but only made one of two free throws, allowing OKC to keep the lead. From there, the Rockets never scored again. In the final minute, Oladipo missed a rushed 3-pointer in transition, Wall had a driving layup blocked by Lu Dort, and Wall missed an isolation 3-pointer in the closing seconds after apparently going away from Stephen Silas’ desired play. Each of those shots would have given Houston the lead.
Wood only took one shot in the game’s final eight minutes, and he expressed frustration postgame at his lack of involvement late. “We’re not playing together,” said Wood, adding that this loss was tougher to take. “I would like to be more involved in the offense going down the stretch.”
Here’s a sampling of the postgame reaction from a series of somber press conferences. Houston returns to action on Monday versus Toronto.
Christian Wood asked about the most frustrating part of the game: “We’re not playing together..Just the ball movement. I think we had 16 assists as a team. We should definitely have more than that..I would like to be more involved in the offense going down the stretch.” pic.twitter.com/42UHuCrBhJ
— Mark Berman (@MarkBermanFox26) March 21, 2021
Christian Wood says he'd like to be apart of the offense more in crunch time. He said he feels like he gets left out in the corner
— Adam Spolane (@AdamSpolane) March 21, 2021
Christian Wood: "We're not playing together." Said he needs more touches down the stretch. He took two shots in the fourth quarter.
— Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) March 21, 2021
Wood said he thought OKC had the last play snuffed out and there wasn't enough time to change up
— Adam Spolane (@AdamSpolane) March 21, 2021
Question: "Is this loss in particular any tougher to take than the other ones?"
Christian Wood: "Yea"
Question: "Can you elaborate?"
Christian Wood: "No" pic.twitter.com/FdQEHyjKVb
— Adam Spolane (@AdamSpolane) March 21, 2021
A fifteen second pause before Stephen Silas said “Yeah, I gotta do better.”
This is the most frustrated and down I’ve ever seen a Head Coach. https://t.co/i9cuqeEo5v
— Alykhan Bijani (@Rockets_Insider) March 21, 2021
Stephen Silas asked how he addresses the team about this latest loss: “We have no choice. We have no choice but to pick up and try hard and learn and grow and it starts with me.” pic.twitter.com/4sP9MxeFK9
— Mark Berman (@MarkBermanFox26) March 21, 2021
This is how Stephen Silas' press conference started. The dejection this man is feeling is off the charts and its hard to watch pic.twitter.com/nIrdkxQYDo
— Adam Spolane (@AdamSpolane) March 21, 2021
