The Houston Rockets took a painful punch to the gut Thursday night in the form of a 133-110 loss to the Golden State Warriors at home. Not only did the Rockets fail to arrest a losing skid that has now reached three games, but they also had just seen their dimming playoff hopes get even dimmer with the loss to a team they were trying to catch up to for a spot in the Play-in Tournament in the Western Conference.
As if that wasn’t enough, the Rockets also got called out by head coach Ime Udoka during the postgame press conference.
“It looked like the moment was too big for a lot of players out there. Looked like deer in headlights a little bit. Either looked soft or scared, one or the other, [and] that’s two bad things for a lot of our guys to have. Didn’t rise up to the moment like I thought we would,” Udoka told reporters (h/t ClutchFans).
Houston Rockets Lose Crucial Game vs. Seasoned Warriors
While the Warriors are littered with veteran stars who are battle-tested in the playoffs, the Rockets are mostly comprised of players still trying to figure things out in the pros. Make no mistake about it; Houston is one talented ball club, but it could not hold the candle to the likes of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson in terms of winning experience in the league.
Curry and Thompson each scored 29 points, with the latter going 7/11 from behind the arc. Curry went just 2/9 from deep but was 9/14 from the field overall and 9/9 from the free-throw line.
The Rockets are mathematically still in contention to earn a Play-in Tournament ticket but with only six games remaining on their schedule and four games out of the 10th spot in the West, it’s more than likely that they will not have any games to play after the regular season.
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