On night two of a road back-to-back, the weary Rockets were no match for the rested Knicks in Monday’s 137-115 loss (box score) at Madison Square Garden. New York (43-33), which hadn’t played in four days, remains on course for a spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs, while Houston (18-58) is still last place in the West.
With the loss, Houston clinched one of the NBA’s three worst records of the 2022-23 season, which guarantees maximum odds of securing one of the top-four draft picks determined by the 2023 lottery.
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Third-year guard Immanuel Quickley set a career-high with 40 points on elite efficiency, making 14-of-17 shots (82.4%) and 5-of-7 on 3-pointers (71.4%). Quickley also dished out a team-high 9 assists for the Knicks. Veteran forward Julius Randle added 26 points on 10-of-19 shooting (52.6%), including 3-of-8 on 3-pointers (37.5%).
Kevin Porter Jr. bounced back from an off night Sunday with a team-high 26 points on 8-of-14 shooting (57.1%) and 3-of-6 from 3-point range (50.0%), but Porter and the rest of Houston’s backcourt struggled defensively to contain Quickley. Other double-figure scorers were:
- Jalen Green: 19 points, 4 assists; 4-of-11 shooting (36.4%), 1-of-5 on 3-pointers (20.0%), 10-of-12 on free throws (83.3%)
- KJ Martin: 18 points, 6 rebounds; 7-of-11 shooting (63.6%), 1-of-3 on 3-pointers (33.3%)
- Jabari Smith Jr.: 14 points, 11 rebounds, career-high 6 assists; 6-of-13 shooting (46.2%)
- Alperen Sengun: 11 points, 5 rebounds, 5 turnovers; 5-of-9 shooting (55.6%), 1-of-1 on 3-pointers
- Tari Eason: 13 points, 8 rebounds; 5-of-11 shooting (45.5%)
- Josh Christopher: 12 points, 6-of-10 shooting (60.0%)
The Rockets were competitive until late in the third quarter, but things spiraled quickly once the second unit came in. Tired legs on night two of a back-to-back may have also been a factor.
Scroll on for highlights, postgame interviews, and reaction by Houston fans and media members. The Rockets will conclude their difficult five-game road trip with Wednesday night’s visit to Brooklyn, where tipoff is again scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Central.
The people online who don’t understand free throws are a skill and an important part of basketball need to watch what Jalen is doing. He’s learning, he’s adding craft, and what’s perhaps more ‘pure’ is he’s being rewarded for relentless driving, aggression, athleticism.
— Nathan Fogg (@NathanFogg1) March 28, 2023
With the #Rockets loss to the Knicks tonight, they’ll officially finish as a bottom 3 NBA team.
They now have a 14% chance to land Victor Wembanyama with their first round draft pick ???? pic.twitter.com/GdMDbAlsKC
— Bradeaux (@BradeauxNBA) March 28, 2023
Knicks fans trying to get Quickley, who for some reason is still in the game, to get his career high. Draws a foul on Boban to shoot for it amid MVP chants. Hits both free throws to give him 40, and then takes a seat.
— Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) March 28, 2023
Rockets either hit a wall, or just stopped trying. Knicks on a 30-7 run beginning with the Randle 3 to end the third. Knicks lead, 129-97, with 5 1/2 minutes left left.
— Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) March 28, 2023
What’s the defense the Rockets playing called…#Sarge
— #SARGE (@BigSargeSportz) March 28, 2023
Quickley was 1 point shy of tying his career high in only 3 quarters, how many times have the Rockets been burned by guards this season? TOO MANY
— Abel (@AbelGe87) March 28, 2023
Man, this is some crazy humiliation for the Rockets here in this quarter, one of the worst of the season
— Abel (@AbelGe87) March 28, 2023
Randle is absolutely cooking Sengun on D so far
Quickley is embarassing KPJ on D as well
— Paulo Alves (@PauloAlvesNBA) March 27, 2023
Alperen Sengun’s positioning has been pretty good overall, but he has not had a good defensive impact. Guys just finishing through him
— Itamar (@Itamar_17_10) March 28, 2023
Jalen Green needs to do a better job of feeding the roller when he the opposing big is hedging in pick and roll. Either that, or use the threat of that to free up space for a shooter
— Itamar (@Itamar_17_10) March 28, 2023
A 40-burger for Immanuel Quickley and a curtain call with 4 minutes left to play is so on-brand for the #Rockets defense this year.
— B.Scott (@brandonkscott) March 28, 2023
I’ve lost count of how many players have set career-highs against the Rockets this season
— Chancellor Johnson (@ChancellorTV) March 28, 2023
With the loss, the #Rockets clinched a bottom-3 record and best possible odds at a top-4 pick:
Pick 1: 14.00%
Pick 2: 13.42%
Pick 3: 12.75%
Pick 4: 11.97%The remaining ~48% of outcomes are up in the air. Right now, as the second-worst team:
Pick 5: 27.84%
Pick 6: 20.02%— ClutchFans (@clutchfans) March 28, 2023
Stephen Silas agreed the #Rockets fell into a trap of trading baskets. “The defensive part just wasn’t a priority. We needed to do better, try harder. Disappointing.”
He felt the energy waned in the second half and guys appeared tired, perhaps from the back-to-back.
— ClutchFans (@clutchfans) March 28, 2023
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