In the midst of their complicated season, the Rockets sometimes had short streaks of two straight wins, but never managed to win the third. The last time was at the beginning of March, after two successes in a row against the Spurs, before a loss against Brooklyn.
There, the Rockets had a new opportunity against the Pelicans, who are still in the running for the “play-in”. And they remembered being pushed around during the last clash between the two teams, at the beginning of January.
“In front of them, it’s always a big battle”, assures Kevin Porter Jr. at the Houston Chronicle. “We wanted to impose a fight on them. The last time, in New Orleans, they had been dominant and we remember it, that’s clear. The match was physical, intense. »
The scenario of this part was hectic. The Pelicans started well, before going 22-0 in the first quarter and continuing into the second. Then, the Rockets fail to confirm this beautiful sequence, so Brandon Ingram and his band take over the controls. At the start of the last quarter, after a basket from Naji Marshall, they even have a 14-point lead.
“We are going in the right direction”
Faced with this gap eleven minutes from the end, the Texans, who have been specialists in letting go of a lead this season, could have collapsed. It was not the case.
“We needed this game to show our maturity, game after game,” continues Kevin Porter Jr. “We wanted to make stops and keep fighting, not let the score tell us what we wanted to do on the floor. »
The Rockets will certainly come back, get closer to a possession even, but without going past. Except at the end, after a missed shot from Brandon Ingram, which gave Stephen Silas’ men one last chance.
The ball arrives in the hands of Jabari Smith Jr, in midfield. The rookie poses a few dribbles, sends 3-pts against Naji Marshall and it falls into it.
“I was not the first option, but the others were not available”, explains the interior, who gave the match ball to his father. “So I wanted the ball and I trusted myself. The team had confidence in me, despite my missed shots. »
This victory is thus the third in a row – a first this season – and each came against teams more competitive than the Rockets: the Celtics, the Lakers and the Pelicans. In two weeks, Houston won five out of eight games.
“It means a lot, especially about our resistance,” says Stephen Silas. “It also means a lot about the players we have in this locker room. This means that we are going in the right direction, that there is progress. »
| Shots | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | bp | Int | CT | party | Points |
| Jalen Green | 63 | 33.8 | 40.9 | 33.5 | 78.2 | 0.6 | 3.3 | 3.9 | 3.6 | 2.8 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 1.7 | 21.6 |
| Kevin Porter, Jr. | 47 | 33.7 | 43.7 | 34.7 | 76.9 | 1.4 | 4.1 | 5.5 | 5.9 | 3.3 | 1.3 | 0.3 | 2.7 | 18.6 |
| Alperen Sengun | 63 | 28.3 | 55.6 | 31.8 | 73.3 | 3.2 | 5.6 | 8.7 | 3.9 | 2.5 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 3.3 | 14.7 |
| Eric Gordon | 47 | 30.2 | 43.9 | 34.7 | 81.5 | 0.3 | 1.8 | 2.1 | 2.9 | 1.8 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 1.0 | 13.1 |
| Jabari Smith, Jr. | 66 | 30.5 | 40.2 | 31.1 | 77.5 | 1.4 | 5.7 | 7.1 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 0.5 | 0.9 | 2.9 | 12.5 |
| Kj Martin | 69 | 27.3 | 56.7 | 31.0 | 66.7 | 1.5 | 4.1 | 5.6 | 1.6 | 1.2 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 1.8 | 12.4 |
| Jae’sean Tate | 29 | 21.8 | 47.9 | 27.3 | 73.4 | 1.3 | 2.5 | 3.8 | 2.6 | 1.6 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 3.5 | 9.3 |
| Tari Eason | 69 | 20.6 | 45.4 | 36.2 | 73.6 | 2.3 | 3.5 | 5.8 | 1.0 | 1.2 | 1.1 | 0.6 | 2.3 | 9.0 |
| Josh Christopher | 51 | 11.4 | 46.6 | 28.4 | 75.0 | 0.3 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 1.0 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.9 | 5.3 |
| Garrison Mathews | 45 | 13.4 | 35.3 | 34.2 | 91.1 | 0.2 | 1.2 | 1.4 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 1.2 | 4.8 |
| Tyty Washington, Jr. | 30 | 13.8 | 35.5 | 21.8 | 62.5 | 0.1 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 1.6 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.9 | 4.6 |
| Daishen Nix | 47 | 16.7 | 35.8 | 30.5 | 67.6 | 0.3 | 1.5 | 1.8 | 2.6 | 1.5 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 1.1 | 4.4 |
| Bruno Fernando | 31 | 11.7 | 51.6 | 0.0 | 68.2 | 1.5 | 2.4 | 3.9 | 1.0 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 1.0 | 2.2 | 4.1 |
| Darius Days | 4 | 6.2 | 41.7 | 30.0 | 100.0 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 1.5 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 3.8 |
| Boban Marjanovic | 24 | 4.8 | 68.9 | 0.0 | 75.0 | 0.5 | 1.2 | 1.7 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 3.3 |
| Usman Garuba | 62 | 13.2 | 52.7 | 53.5 | 59.5 | 1.6 | 2.6 | 4.3 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 1.7 | 3.3 |
| Trevor Hudgins | 5 | 5.7 | 22.2 | 25.0 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 1.8 |
| Frank Kaminsky | 7 | 5.1 | 18.2 | 14.3 | 100.0 | 0.1 | 1.1 | 1.3 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 1.3 |
