Devin Booker Burns the Rockets Late as Houston Drops Two Straight

In a shocking and disappointing turn of events, the once 2-5 Phoenix Suns put arguably one of the most impressive teams in the league to bed Saturday night. The Houston Rockets fell 102-99 at Mortgage Matchup Center, dropping to 7-3 with their second straight loss.

Houston dug itself a hole right away, while Phoenix shot 16-of-21 in the first quarter, a 76-percent clip, and six Rockets turnovers turned into 12 Suns points. By early in the second quarter, the lead had ballooned to 19. Ouch.

The Rockets got gritty in the following frame and hope resurfaced- for Houston fans at least. The Rockets closed the half on a 22-3 run and held Phoenix to 4-of-19 shooting in the second quarter, tying it 47-47 at the break. Jabari Smith Jr. turned back-to-back steals into easy buckets during that stretch, and he finished with 15 points, nine rebounds and three steals.

The second half turned into a slugfest, with 10 lead changes in the third quarter alone. Kevin Durant came in with some extra fuel after his back-and-forth with Suns owner Mat Ishbia, and it showed after halftime. He scored 13 in the third and had 19 through three quarters, but he managed just two points on 1-of-5 shooting in the fourth.

Then began the Devin Booker takeover. With the game tied at 93 and around four and a half minutes left, Booker scored Phoenix's final nine points, including a step-back three that pushed the lead to five. He finished with 24 points, nine of them in the fourth.

But it really did look like Houston still had a chance to walk out with an overtime victory. Durant's jumper cut it to 102-99 with under a minute left, and after a Booker miss, he got a look at a game-tying three with around 10 seconds to go. It didn't fall, Miles Bridges grabbed the rebound and the clock ran out.

With Clint Capela and Steven Adams still out on tonight's injury report, Alperen Şengün carried the middle and scored 11 of his 15 points in the fourth. Amen Thompson added 17 points, seven rebounds and four blocks. The problem was everything around them. Houston shot 10-of-35 from three, a 29-percent clip, and the bench got outscored 34-15, with Tari Eason and Reed Sheppard combining to go 3-of-16.

The frustrating part is Houston fixed what killed it last time. After coughing it up 22 times in Wednesday's loss to Minnesota, the Rockets had 14 turnovers tonight and won the offensive glass 14-9, and still couldn't close.

Losing to Minnesota stung. Losing to a Suns team that had dropped four of its previous five hurts more, and Monday's matchup with the Denver Nuggets at Toyota Center suddenly feels a lot more daunting.

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