The faces changed, even looking vaguely familiar.
The results, however, were the same, the Rockets’ losing streak stretching from the start of Christian Wood’s injury to the end, and now beyond.
Wood and Danuel House Jr. returned, but the Rockets’ skid rolled on, reaching a franchise record 18 consecutive losses with the Warriors easily cruising to a 104-98 rout Wednesday at Toyota Center as the Rockets were unable to ride any sort of wave of scoring to match their run into the game of the previous night’s ultimately failed comeback.
If the quest for the long-sought win, unfulfilled since Wood’s ankle injury Feb. 4 in Memphis, remained out of reach, the smaller goals did show some signs of progress.
After giving on-the-job training to their 20-year-olds Kevin Porter Jr. and K.J. Martin, with Porter again displaying promise Wednesday, the Rockets worked on knocking rust from Wood and House, even in limited minutes.
Porter had 25 points on 9 of 18 shooting with seven assists.
Wood was especially productive, making 8 of his 12 shots to score 21 points along with nine rebounds in 26 minutes.
He also showed flashes of why he was missed so badly, if the losing streak had not make that clear enough.
With less than four minutes remaining, he dropped Draymond Green with a crossover dribble, hitting a jumper over him as Green scrambled to his feet. The time away, however, also remained evident. On the next possession, Wood drew a foul on Green with the same move, but missed all three of his free throws, falling to 5 of 11 from the line.
House made 4 of 8 shots for 11 points in 24 minutes, getting to the rim often though initially struggling to finish.
Even with them back, the Rockets remained shorthanded with their starting backcourt of John Wall and Victor Oladipo out, often playing four rookies at a time. The Warriors were without rookie James Wiseman and Eric Paschal, who were held out with the NBA health and safety protocols, along with their season-long absence of star guard Klay Thompson.
The Warriors, however, had plenty left, even after Stephen Curry went out at the end of the third quarter.
Curry, who had a relatively quiet game with 18 points while making just 2 of 11 3-pointers, had backpedaled off the floor after missing a 3 at the buzzer, tripping over the metal riser at the Rockets’ bench. He fell and landed hard on his lower back, needing help as he walked slowly to the Warriors’ locker room, where he was ruled out with a bruised tailbone.
The Warriors still had plenty of offensive options, however, with Jordan Poole scoring 23 points off the bench while Kelly Oubre Jr. had 19 and Green finished with a triple double of 16 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists.
That left the Rockets playing catch up most of the way.
They had started well enough offensively that 6½ minutes into the game they held a 21-18 lead. They were not getting stops with the Warriors regularly finding open 3s and fast-break layups. Green picked them apart in the halfcourt, routinely finding cutters.
When the Rockets went to their bench, the Warriors took off. The Rockets made just 3 of 9 shots to close the first quarter and then made just 6 of 19 shots in the second quarter, scoring a season-low 17 points.
The Warriors closed the half with a 27-9 surge to lead by 24 and scored the first bucket of the second half as easily as any in the first half, with Oubre cutting to an uncontested layup.
The Rockets, however, did begin to battle a bit defensively and got enough scoring from Wood and Porter to put a dent in the Warriors' lead. After trailing by as much as 26, the Rockets closed to within 14 and trailed 86-71 heading into the fourth quarter.
They did not seem to be a threat to catch any sort of 3-point fire as they had against the Hawks. After making 3 of 5 3-pointers to start, the Rockets made 5 of 22 3-pointers the rest of the way.
They were within 14 of the Warriors early enough in the fourth quarter to have a longshot chance. But that never seemed likely or beyond a very long, longshot. That run never came, but Wood did play basketball, which the way things have gone, ranked as a marked improvement.
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March 18, 2021 at 09:43AM
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Rockets lose to Warriors, skid hits franchise-record 18 games - Houston Chronicle
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