The Rockets suffered their fifth loss this season in overtime tonight as they faced the 76ers in Philadelphia. The final score was 122-128 as Houston managed to score only seven points after the game went into overtime tied 115-115.
After the game, Kevin Durant spoke to the media and addressed the team’s effort against the 76ers after gaining a nine-point lead nearly midway through the fourth quarter.
“It wasn’t good enough. It just wasn’t good enough. I had five turnovers in the first half, which gave them a seven-point lead, which gave them confidence. Then I had the one at the end with the offensive foul. It’s a lot of bullsh** [what] I was doing tonight,” said Durant in an honest reflection of the game.
While Kevin Durant was arguably the best player on the floor tonight for the Rockets, even his proneness to turnovers ended up being costly for them down the stretch.
He finished this game with 36 points, seven rebounds, and three assists while going 13-21 from the floor (61.9 FG%) and 5-8 from beyond the arc (62.5 3P%). Durant had eight of the Rockets’ total 16 turnovers against the 76ers.
Even though Durant might blame himself, the coaching staff would also point to other factors, like defensive lapses that allowed Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey to get to their spots on several occasions.
During the halftime interview, the Rockets’ assistant coach, Royal Ivey, who is also a former NBA player, called out Joel Embiid for foul baiting during the game.
“Just the fouling. Embiid shoots nine free throws in that half; the foul baiting is crazy right now. We’ve just got to be more disciplined, [if we’re] showing our hands [then] he’s trying to swipe through,” said Ivey on what allowed the 76ers to go on a 14-3 run to end the first half.
“In transition, we allowed Maxey to get loose and their role players to get easy baskets. Once we set our defense, they can’t score in the half-court,” said Ivey while pointing to transition defense as a weakness that the 76ers exploited.
“Keep on driving, make him play defense on the other side. He just wants to play offense right now, make him guard,” Ivey further added on how Alperen Sengun could stop Embiid in the second half.
This explains why Sengun was driving into the paint almost every time he was guarded by Embiid in the second half. The Turkish star scored only once in the third quarter after five attempts and, as a result, played for only four minutes in the fourth quarter.
He finished the game with 13 points, eight rebounds, and seven assists while shooting 5-14 from the field (35.7%) on a night he would want to forget. Eight of his nine misses tonight came right underneath the paint, which shows that the 76ers had a counter ready for the Rockets’ strategy on Embiid.
Furthermore, Embiid got the last laugh as he finished the game with a triple-double. He had 32 points, 15 rebounds, and 10 assists while playing 46 minutes tonight. He shot 10-19 from the floor (52.6 FG%) and went to the line 12 times by the end of the game (going 11-12 from the free-throw line).
Two Other Reasons Why The Rockets Lost This Game
One of the key reasons why the Rockets lost this game, beyond what Ivey pointed to, was their free-throw shooting.
They scored only 50.0% of their free throws tonight, missing 12 of their 24 attempts, while the 76ers missed only three of their 22 tries. In a game that went into overtime, even one trip to the free-throw line can make all the difference.
Another one is the performance of Jabari Smith Jr., a key role player expected to be a difference maker in the Rockets’ push for a title. But over the last several games, Smith has struggled to find consistency this season.
Even tonight, he finished with 13 points, five assists, and four rebounds while shooting 5-15 from the field (33.3 FG%) and 1-10 from beyond the arc (10.0 3P%).
Therefore, as much as the Rockets coaching staff would want to blame this loss on Embiid’s foul baiting, they really need to take a serious look in the mirror and fix their free-throw shooting and turnovers in the long run.
Falling to 26-16 for the season after this loss, they are now set to face the Pistons tomorrow night in Detroit on the second night of a back-to-back. Meanwhile, the 76ers will move on to host the Knicks at home on Saturday, January 24.
