Rockets look to future after narrow loss to Hawks pushes losing streak to franchise-tying 17

Photo courtesy of Pool Photos/USA Today Sports

Though a lot of negative outcomes were reached on Wednesday night, the future has never looked brighter.

Houston, in what felt like their first actually competitive game in weeks, battled to the end in their tight loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday night, dropping the contest by a score of 119-107.

Don't let the score fool you--this game was close. Though, it certainly didn't start that way. The visiting Hawks had their way with the under-manned Rockets in the first half, dropping 35 and 38 points in the first and second quarters, respectively.

But, the Rockets refused to give in, with a large part of that due to the play of current star Victor Oladipo, and young star Kevin Porter Jr. The latter finished the first half with 16 points and five assists, on a highly efficient 7-11 shooting. Oladipo was even better; 23 points (his most in a half as a Rocket) on 8-11 shooting, and a perfect 3-3 on threes.

Still, the Rockets found themselves trailing by 15 after the first half, in part because of shoddy defense, and in part due to the rest of the team shooting 7-23 from the field.

But then things got wild in the third quarter. What was once a 23-point deficit was cut down to one at the conclusion of the third, after a stretch that saw the Rockets outscore the Hawks by a 34-20 margin rejuvenated the squad.

This time, it was young rookie Jae'Sean Tate who got in on the action, scoring in bunches in the second half.

The Rockets continued to battle, and even managed to tie the game a few minutes into the fourth. Unfortunately, their energy would appear to drop a bit throughout a majority of the fourth quarter, and a fifteen-point final frame would seal them the loss.

At first glance, the result paints a painful picture--17 straight losses ties a franchise record, and one more would officially mark the longest stretch without a win in the team's history.

However, it's hard to ignore the positives from the game. The team had a pretty good shooting night from the floor (47% from the field, 38% from three), kept the rebounding margin at just about even, and played extremely competitive basketball despite only having eight active players on the roster.

Individual stats reflect the team's effort--Victor Oladipo finished with a season-high 34 points on a beautiful 13-20 shooting, while also putting in five assists and three rebounds, upping the value of the league's most prominent trade candidate at this year's deadline.

The Rockets' young core also had a night to remember. Kevin Porter Jr. dropped 22 points (10-21 shooting), eight assists, and four rebounds, while also nabbing two blocks and steals each. Jae'Sean Tate put in a career-high 25 points (9-19 shooting) in tandem with six assists and rebounds apiece.

And there's more! Shooting guard Sterling Brown somehow managed to pull down eleven rebounds, more than any other player on both sides. Oh, and rookie Kenyon Martin Jr. also pulled off this nasty poster dunk on the Hawks' John Collins.

And the icing on all this cake? It was recently announced that Rockets' star Christian Wood--who the team went 0-17 without during this losing stretch--would make his return on Wednesday night on a minutes restriction against the Golden State Warriors.

Tip-off against Golden State is scheduled for 9 PM CT.