Houston's defense faltered, costing them a win. Now, they face Portland again, determined to erase that gut-wrenching defeat.
Just this Wednesday, Houston came into the Moda Center looking to climb their way up the standings. With only two and a half games separating the 2nd and 6th seeds in the Western Conference, every game is becoming increasingly more meaningful. That makes the 102-103 loss against the sub .500 Trail Blazers a tough pill to swallow.
It was a back and forth game for a majority of the first half, with neither team able to get more than a four point lead. Things quickly changed after Blazers breakout star, Deni Avdija, got to the free throw with just under three minutes remaining in the first half. These would be his 8th and 9th free throw attempts of the game to that point, and pushed their lead to six points. After getting an 11 point advantage in the following minutes, the first half ended with Houston trailing 47-57. They would only regain the lead momentarily in the final tenth of a second of the game. After a brief sigh of relief, and maybe some premature celebration, all of Houston felt their hearts ripped out when Tari Eason’s buzzer beating tip was waived off. A valiant effort in the finals minutes proved to not be enough.
Coach Ime Udoka reflected on this in his postgame interview, saying, “we decided to play the last half of the fourth quarter,” implying that the team lacked the requisite effort for a full 48 minutes. Going on to call his teams defensive discipline, "horrendous," it's clear what he believes needs to happen for Houston to get a win in the same building, two nights later. If we don't see a Rockets team that looks locked in defensively from the tip-off tonight, then another disappointing loss may be in store.