The sudden trend of poor 3-point shooting by the Rockets accelerated in Monday’s listless 124-105 home loss (box score) to in-state rival San Antonio.
Though the Spurs entered with an identical record to Houston and in a similar rebuilding place as a franchise, the on-court products at Toyota Center were quite different.
Devin Vassell had a game-high 26 points and 5 assists for the Spurs on 10-of-17 shooting (58.8%), including 5-of-8 on 3-pointers (62.5%). As a team, Gregg Popovich’s club hit 17-of-34 from 3-point range (50%), whereas Houston made 5-of-24 from distance (20.8%) and has connected on 8-of-53 over its last two games (15.1%).
Big man Alperen Sengun led Houston with 22 points on 8-of-10 shooting (80%), though he was inconsistent defensively and was limited to 24 minutes by head coach Stephen Silas.
Making matters worse, it marks the second time in less than two weeks the Rockets (9-21) have lost convincingly to their rebuilding rivals, even with the Spurs (10-20) missing Keldon Johnson this time due to injury.
Young prospects Jalen Green, Kevin Porter Jr., and Jabari Smith Jr. set the tone on a cold night with a 2-of-12 showing from 3-point range (16.7%). Second-year guard Daishen Nix showed promise off the bench with a career-high 9 assists and 3 steals in 24 minutes. But fittingly for the night, Nix missed all four of his 3-point attempts.
Scroll on for highlights, analysis and postgame interview reaction following Monday’s loss to San Antonio. Houston plays the sixth game of its longest homestand of the season (seven games in total) on Wednesday night versus Orlando, with tipoff set for 7 p.m. Central.
Highlights
Analysis and Interviews
No sugarcoating this game. Very very bad loss . No excuse at all for this performance
— Lachard Binkley (@BinkleyHoops) December 20, 2022
Down by 30 at home to the Spurs. 2022 has been wild.
— Kelly Iko (@KellyIko) December 20, 2022
Alperen Sengun was easily the best player on the Rockets tonight.
22 points
4 rebounds
3 assists8-10 from the field
6-8 from the FT lineNaturally he’ll also be the one starter who played under 30 minutes lol
— Salman Ali (@SalmanAliNBA) December 20, 2022
The Spurs are playing without leading scorer Keldon Johnson https://t.co/870tk992Gn
— Adam Spolane (@AdamSpolane) December 20, 2022
I know preseason is preseason, but the talent discrepancy when these sides met in early October was significant. Hard not to argue that one of these teams has improved, collectively, since then, while the other has not.
— Ben DuBose (@BenDuBose) December 20, 2022
Another terrible shooting night leads to the Houston #Rockets dropping their third consecutive game in a loss to the Spurs. via @InsideRocketsFN
"We got down on ourselves early and let go of the rope, that was disappointing." coach Stephen Silashttps://t.co/HN5ekCPJAA
— Coty M. Davis (@CotyDavis_24) December 20, 2022
Stephen Silas: “We have competitors on this team. So I’m not worried like the sky is falling at all,but we got to do better & it’s a collective,guys who have been there before, been thru adversity before..We’ll definitely get out of it.We’re in it right now. It doesn’t feel good”
— Mark Berman (@MarkBermanFox26) December 20, 2022
Silas: “That’s who we were tonight, and that’s not who we should be.” https://t.co/FYht1VeTJe
— Adam Spolane (@AdamSpolane) December 20, 2022
Jalen Green: We ain’t been playing like ourselves.
— Kelly Iko (@KellyIko) December 20, 2022
Can’t get more ping pong balls than San Antonio in the lottery unless San Antonio has more wins than you. #Rockets playing four-dimensional chess right now. pic.twitter.com/mAUnMZtJlk
— David Weiner (@BimaThug) December 20, 2022
Stat of note from the Rockets tonight loss to the Spurs: San Antonio had five players off their bench score double-digit points.
— Mark Berman (@MarkBermanFox26) December 20, 2022
#Rockets vs Spurs@alperennsengun
🏀22 PTS🏀8-10 FG🏀4 REB🏀3 AST🏀@HoustonRockets on AT&T SportsNet pic.twitter.com/aOJ2p4nBr0— AT&T SportsNet™ | SW (@ATTSportsNetSW) December 20, 2022
Rockets lost to the Spurs 124-105. Looked like Zach Collins and Jae'Sean Tate might've had words after the game. Nice to see someone with the Rockets have some fight tonight, too bad he wasn't wearing a uniform
— Adam Spolane (@AdamSpolane) December 20, 2022
Kevin Porter Jr: "I'm one of the leaders of this team, and my word is very valuable to this team, so I just try to be vocal, communicate with my guys and keep them in high hopes because I know."
— Adam Spolane (@AdamSpolane) December 20, 2022
