With electric Memphis guard Ja Morant sitting out, the rockets dominated the highlights. The Grizzlies had everything different.
It was some powerful KJ Martin Slam. From Kevin Porter Jr. Jae’Sean Tate has taken a claw at a flying finish that is worth the dunk contest. Sengun went coast-to-coast to a left-handed spike.
The grizzlies do not seem impressed. They might have seemed awake if they had not performed so impeccably all day.
While the Rockets were streaking, the Grizzlies defended, moving the ball and hitting open shots. Flashy Slams couldn’t keep up with that, with the Grizzlies rising to a 26-point lead before the benches were cleared on the way to a 122-98 game Sunday at the Toyota Center.
3 points: Takeaways of the Rockets Loss for Grizzlies
For all the Rockets’ lightning and hope it inspired as they closed in on seven with 3½ minutes left in the third quarter, the Grizzlies got too frequent and slightly open shots.
As the Rockets went down 12 in the fourth quarter, their launch pads combined to make 12 of 39 shots. Porter and Christian Wood, who had fired the rockets at their Grizzlies two weeks earlier, had pulled out less than four minutes into the second half, both back but making no impact.
“Just do not like the way we came out,” Rockets coach Stephen Silas said of the uncharacteristic early substitution. “I did not think we came out with the right energy, effort, back and defense, things like that. I just did not like it.”
Porter made just four of 18 shots. Wood played just 21 minutes, paired 12 points with seven rebounds and made six of his eight shots from the 3-point line. Jalen Green’s streak of 22 players, which shot in double figures, ended with only three of 13 shots, often on the rims but without completion.
Asked if the rockets were frustrated with the missed shots, which led to a lack of energy in other areas, Silas said: “Yes, we did a lot this season, frustrated with the insult and let it go. “We did not shoot the ball well this evening, of course.”
The Rockets were 7-of-28 on 3s when the Grizzlies’ lead reached 26. With Houston’s starters ineffective, even with Morant out in years Jackson Jr. and Steven Adams often sat down due to foul problems, the rockets were carried through their bench. They were able to bring the effort, but had no success stopping more than the starters.
Dennis Schröder had 17 points, but only three in the second half. Martin had 15, Sengun 12. But as soon as the Rockets went through with their small third-quarter flurry, the Grizzlies rolled to open the game with a torrent of wide-open 3s.
The Rockets seem to have escaped from the early hole they dug as their starters could not make a shot in the first half. The Grizzlies started the second quarter to make three of 12 shots with three innings as the Rockets reduced their lead to 14 to 4.
Schröder, who did not play in the last game against the Grizzlies, had 14 points, his first half with the Rockets. Josh Christopher and Martin brought in defensive energy. The Rockets were 43-39 with 4:20 left in the half as the starters started to come back.
After a Tyus Jones three-point game, Martin put down a Corner 3 to keep the Rockets inside four, but the Rockets missed their last five shots of the half and got no more stops.
Porter, who made two of three shots to open the game and had 29 points in the previous session, made just one of eight shots after his good start to hit the half. He and Green combined to make just five of 18 shots in the half, with Wood going 1-of-4, all on 3s, and only making his shot, he unleashed shots into the bank.
The Rockets were left with 12 and they were overrun when the starters were on the ground, which does not seem like a good formula for a comeback. But two weeks earlier, they had beaten the Grizzlies by 10 at the break and worked their way to victory.
There seemed to be little chance of that when the second half started like the game had, with Wood and Porter drawn in just 3½ minutes. But the rockets have some exciting dunks.
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