Rockets drop third straight in blowout loss to Pelicans

Photo courtesy of Layne Murdoch Jr./NBAE via Getty Images

Oh, how quickly things can change.

A little less than a week removed from their six-game winning streak, the Rockets now find themselves the losers of three in a row, and three of their last four, the latest of which coming by way of a beatdown courtesy of the New Orleans Pelicans, by a score of 130-101.

There wasn't much to like during Tuesday night's primetime showcase. Houston got off to a poor start, and was never able to really recover. Headlining the effort was yet another lackluster offensive performance--the team shot just under 42% from the floor and just over 30% from three.

Though, the team's defense once again proved unsatisfactory once again. After getting lit up for 119 against the Charlotte Hornets yesterday evening, the Rockets performed even worse by allowing 130 to a previously 10-12 Pelicans team that they themselves beat little more than a week and a half ago.

The optics paint a pretty vivid picture of the multiple reasons behind the loss. Houston was out-rebounded by a whopping 55-37 margin, and were also killed off of second chance points via offensive boards (the Pels tallied 16 of those points in the first half). Houston was, for all intents and purposes, humiliated on the glass--Josh Hart, a 6'5" shooting guard, grabbed 17 rebounds. No Houston Rocket had more than eight, including center DeMarcus Cousins.

At the very least, John Wall and Eric Gordon had good games coming off of a rest day on Monday. Wall finished with a team-high 25 points and six assists, while Gordon ended with 23 points in the contest.

Suffice it to say, the Rockets are really missing Christian Wood right now, who would solve most, if not all, of the team's problems right now. Wood would easily fix the rebounding issue, while also adding that extra spark plug on offense. For now, however, Wood is still weeks away from returning, and the Rockets will have to continue to look elsewhere for offense for the time being.

Houston drops to 11-13 with the loss. Their next game will come against the Miami Heat on Thursday night at home in the Toyota Center. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:30 PM CT.