On February 9, Beijing time, the Rockets lost to the Pelicans 97:110 on the road, and in two consecutive meetings between the two teams, the Rockets ended in defeat, and the Rockets suffered 3 consecutive defeats, and in the last 8 games, they only achieved a record of 1 win and 7 losses.
The Rockets' game against the Pelicans this time is very different from the last game against the Pelicans, who just made a trade before this game, trading Hart, Satoransky, Alexander Walker, Luzada, and a protected first-round pick and two next-round picks in 2022 to the Blazers, in exchange for CJ McCollum, Nance Jr. and Snell.
After the deal was completed, none of the seven players involved in the deal could represent the Pelicans, prompting the Pelicans' rotation to be greatly affected, but facing the Rockets, whose lineup was also untidy and weaker, the Pelicans won relatively easily and were not affected by the deal.
In this game, the Rockets Eric Gordon was suspended due to a heel injury, and Theis also missed the game for personal reasons, silas continued to line up the starting lineup of Porter, Green, Tate, Shenjing and Wood, which was silas's two consecutive games to use such a starting lineup, the strategy of double guard + double center, and the double center of Wood + Theis at the beginning of the season was similar, but the results were very different.
Wood + Theis + Porter + Green + Theiss starting lineup at the beginning of the season, on the one hand, the performance of Porter and Green is still in the cultivation period, prompting both attack and defense, on the other hand, the configuration of Theis + Tate promotes that the offensive space is not good.
The starting lineup of Wood + Shenjing + Tate + Porter + Green, the very important training of Porter, Green and ShenJing three players, coupled with ShenJing's handling of the ball and domination of the ball is better than the Theth, prompting the Rockets to choose more on the offensive end, the offense appears more fluent.
Although Shen Jing's three-point shooting rate is not high, only 25.9% this season, it is still the pelicans' point on the outside line, but Shen Jing's ability to combine the ball is excellent, from the outside line to the strength of the inside line is excellent, although Shen Jing drags the offensive space, but Shen Jing does not drag the attack.
To this end, the Rockets such a starting lineup, in the case of excellent hand, up to 8 points ahead, relying on Wood's offensive ability, as well as Green and Porter's three-point shooting ability, the Rockets began to show a full blooming trend.
The Rockets in the first quarter of the leading stage, became the only stage of this game, the Rockets only lead, due to the Rockets' poor offensive stability, and the Rockets' poor continuity of scoring, when the Rockets' feel declined, offensive efficiency fell, the Rockets' leading advantage disappeared.
The biggest problem with the Rockets in this game is not only on the offensive end, but also on the defensive end, it is difficult to say, there is basically no defensive intensity, especially after the bench lineup, the Rockets' defense can not be seen at all.
When the starting lineup is on the floor, the defense is not good, the Rockets have been passed by the opponent one step, the defensive position and defensive choices are not done well, whether it is Tate, or Wood, the change of defense can not prevent Ingram, the Rockets on the inside of the defense is not good, whether it is the protective frame, or rebound protection.
In the bench lineup, the Rockets' already bad defense continues to decline, one step is passed, the defensive position and defensive choices are not good, the Rockets' supplementary defense and co-defense are not at all, often appear to be one step past by the Pelicans, easy to get on the basket, the Rockets' defensive formation is like paper paste, Christopher's defensive experience is insufficient, Martin's defense and co-defense are not good, Brooks's disaster-level defense is present, plus the small lineup, crazy loss of rebounds, poor protection of the basket, giving the Pelicans too many opportunities to easily break through to the inside line.
On top of that, the Rockets aren't good at seizing the Pelicans' defensive weaknesses, and when Hayes and Varanciunas are in the foul crisis, the Rockets don't know how to focus on players with a lot of fouls on each other.
In this game, the Rockets is a game to accumulate experience for young players to make mistakes, Shin Kyung made too many mistakes that need to pay tuition, Green needs to solve the opponent's targeted defense, how to score steadily, and Christopher needs to learn how to correctly defend the position, as well as defensive choices, since it is a game for the purpose of training young players, then the victory and defeat have no practical significance for the Rockets, every game, let young players make more mistakes, through making mistakes can grow as soon as possible, this is the biggest significance of the Rockets this season.