Rockets squandered winnable opportunities, faltering on crucial plays despite clear looks and solid shooting, ultimately losing to the 76ers.
The most frustrating part of Thursday night in Philadelphia wasn’t the final score. It was how many opportunities the Houston Rockets had to make sure it never got there.
The Rockets didn’t lose to the 76ers because Tyrese Maxey couldn’t miss or because of shoddy defense or even difficulty finding clean looks or shotmaking. The game offered Houston the win on a platter.
Loud, clean exits came over and over, and, every time, the Rockets slipped. Not for lack of talent or effort, but execution. At this point in the season, a loss like this lingers, because the Rockets were in a position to prevent it.
Thursday night didn’t come down to scrambling to keep up while shots just wouldn’t fall- something that’s developed into somewhat of a pattern as of late. Houston found clean looks, even against a remarkably annoying Philadelphia defense.
In fact, Houston shot 45-percent from three all night.Tari Eason sank three, Reed Sheppard buried four, and Kevin Durant added five. Six Rockets had made one from deep before the end of the first quarter.
This loss was the result of details Houston didn’t finish.
For one, Houston shot 50-percent from the free throw line. They accumulated twelve missed points in total, with seven in the second quarter alone. Just this one factor put a game into overtime that should have never been tied up in the fourth.
The fouling became a problem once Houston lost control of the margins. The Rockets sent Joel Embiid to the line over and over in the second quarter, allotting him nine free throw attempts that converted to eight free notches for the Sixers.
After improving their ball-security semi-steadily over the last few games, Houston failed to protect the ball, turning live-ball mistakes into easy Philadelphia points. The Rockets handed over ten points from eight turnovers in the second frame alone- 24 all night.
Even still, the final frame looked like the breakthrough. Sheppard found his rhythm, drilling threes against a defense built to punish perimeter mistakes. Eason looked like himself again, bringing energy and confidence on both ends. Durant delivered another 30-point night, calmly stabilizing things when the floor tightened and the margin thinned.
Houston built real momentum.
They even had the moment that usually decides games: a late stop, a block on Maxey, the ball back with the score tied- a final chance to walk out of Philadelphia with a road win that would’ve said plenty.
Instead, chaos. A clock sequence no one fully understood. A reset. Overtime.
Once the margin shrank to nothing, the same issues resurfaced. A turnover. A rushed possession. A missed rotation. Maxey capitalized. Philadelphia converted. Houston didn’t.
This time, a 36-point night from Durant or a fourth-quarter Reed Sheppard Hail Mary surge wasn’t going to erase earlier damage, and in their third consecutive overtime with Philadelphia, Houston fell 128-122.