Rebuilding the Dream: The Next Era of Houston Rockets Basketball – Episode 22
The loss in Dallas was the Rockets 6th in a row and concerns were growing as the team’s defence had fallen off dramatically since Jabari Smith’s injury and their offence was struggling to create good opportunities down the stretch of games since Fred VanVleet went down with an injury 5 games back against Brooklyn. There were just 3 games remaining on the schedule before the team would get a much needed break for All-Star Weekend and they were hoping to get back to winning ways as they returned to the Toyota Centre to face the Toronto Raptors.
Despite an unconvincing performance, Jalen Green and Cam Whitmore hit some timely 3 pointers to snap the losing streak. The next team to visit the Toyota Centre would be the Phoenix Suns, a franchise that were in disarray following their recent failed attempts at trading Bradley Beal and Kevin Durant. A severe lack of depth, poor coaching and bad team chemistry had led to a poor start to the season for them. They were below 500 and had lost 5 of their last 6 games. The final game before a much needed All Star break was against Jimmy Butler and the new-look Golden State Warriors. The Rockets struggled throughout and by the 4th quarter Ime Udoka benched most of the starters as Aaron Holiday’s determined effort helped make the final score look much more favourable than it should have been. With 2 thirds of the season already played, the Houston Rockets were 4th in a highly competitive and ever changing Western Conference. They hadn’t made any big trades at the deadline like their fellow Texas teams and conference rivals had but the growth of Amen Thompson and newly assumed leadership roles for Alperen Sengun and Jalen Green gave the fanbase confidence of continued success. They were hopeful they would shake off their recent poor form and regain the energy and intensity that they were playing with in December and January. This would be helped by the impending returns of Jabari Sith and Fred VanVleet. With the exception of Alperen Sengun, Amen Thompson and Reed Sheppard, the team would spend the next week recuperating, and getting ready for the final stretch of the season that would hopefully continue well past April, into May and potentially, even June.
