The ghosts of last season popped up in last night's 117-107 Houston Rockets loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Up until last night, Houston seemed to have largely fixed many of the problems they had last season. Had they been right all along about what Fred VanVleet would mean to this team?
Well, last night, even with VanVleet, the Rockets suffered through some poor fourth quarter offensive execution, which was a hallmark of last year's team (blowing leads), and gave up a 10-2 run midway through the fourth after leading by a couple and finished in a 10-point defeat.
Advertisement
The Wolves were without Anthony Edwards and Terrence Shannon Jr., so they were shorthanded, while the Rockets mostly were not (missing only Steven Adams), but it was still Houston's fourth quarter that cost them the game, when they turned the ball over four times and shot just 7-for-16 in the final frame, while simultaneously letting the Wolves finish strong, shooting 13-for-21 in the fourth.
The Rockets were led by Alperen Sengun, who racked up a triple double, going for 17 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists, but he shot just 5-for-15 from the field. They also got 21 points from Kevin Durant and 18 from Fred VanVleet, but overall, the Rockets shot just 43 percent from the field while allowing Minny to go off for 53 percent. Houston was also outrebounded and outplayed in just about every category.
The Wolves were led by Ayo Dosunmu, who put in 21 points, while Lamelo Ball scored 20, including 12 in the decisive fourth quarter, while Jonathan Kuminga had 16, including a three-pointer and a tip-in down the stretch that helped win the game for the Wolves.
That was a home game for the Rockets, so you hate to see old habits pop back up again, but you're going to have nights like these over an 82-game season. Keeping them at once in a while and not 20 blown fourth-quarter leads like last year is the key. Things had been better to start year, and it's certainly not anywhere close to panic time, but it was a little disheartening to see the Rockets of old pop back up last night. I guess number one in the power rankings comes with expectations?
The Rockets will be back in action Saturday night against the Phoenix Suns. That game is in Phoenix and has an 8pm start.
