The Rockets finished off a brutal stretch of 10 road games in their first 13 contests of the 2022-23 NBA season with Saturday’s 117-106 loss at New Orleans (box score). The Pelicans improved to 7-6 with the win, while Houston fell to a league-worst 2-11 on the year.
Jalen Green led the Rockets with 33 points and 6 assists on 11-of-20 shooting (55.0%) and 5-of-10 from 3-point range (50.0%), and it helped Houston turn an 18-point deficit in the third quarter into an 8-point advantage early in the fourth. But after that 26-point swing, the Pelicans had a 19-point turnaround of their own to finish the game.
Zion Williamson led the Pelicans with 26 points and 6 assists on 8-of-9 shooting (88.9%) and 10-of-12 on free throws (83.3%). Jose Alvarado made major contributions off the bench with 12 points (83.3% FG), 5 assists, and 3 steals in 20 minutes, and his pesky defense contributed to 7 turnovers by Kevin Porter Jr. for the Rockets. As a team, Houston had 26 turnovers compared to only 12 for the Pelicans, and that discrepancy played a large role in the outcome.
Rookie forward Jabari Smith recorded 9 points and a career-high 15 rebounds for the Rockets, while Porter scored 23 points on 9-of-16 shooting (56.3%) to help offset some of the turnover damage. It was a bad night for Houston’s starting center, Alperen Sengun, who managed only 6 points while fouling out in 19 minutes.
Scroll on for highlights, analysis, and postgame interviews from New Orleans. Houston now begins a stretch of five home games in its next six starting with Monday’s matchup versus the Los Angeles Clippers at Toyota Center, with tipoff set for 7:00 p.m. Central.
Tonight’s thoughts
????Good comeback but still a loss
????26 turnovers are embarrassing
????Sengun looked a step slow all night
????Jalen should have taken 8-10 shots in the fourth not 2 or 3
????The Rockets get in close games and panic on offense especially
????Oh yeah 26 turnovers pic.twitter.com/NuTE6qYivh— Lachard Binkley (@BinkleyHoops) November 13, 2022
The game turned around once the Rockets stop giving the ball to Jalen Green. It’s that simple. Matt Bullard used to bring up something Rudy T used to say all the time when a play worked. “Run it again”. That’s what you need to do to win games. Give it to your best player
— Lachard Binkley (@BinkleyHoops) November 13, 2022
So much of the KPJ-at-PG discourse is centered around reads and processing speed, and I understand why, but this is the second game out of three where one of the biggest issues is simply the handle. Just far too loose when these shifty defensive types turn up the intensity.
— Ben DuBose (@BenDuBose) November 13, 2022
Porter grabbed Alvarado after he thought Alvarado was showboating following a steal with 17 seconds left. Porter and Alvarado jawed enough that both are tossed.
— Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) November 13, 2022
A week after the Astros killed Jose Alvarado, Jose Alvarado is killing the Rockets
— Adam Spolane (@AdamSpolane) November 13, 2022
The Rockets hit 5 of 9 3s in the third quarter, 1 of 8 in fourth, missing six straight, trail by four with 3 1/2 minutes left.
— Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) November 13, 2022
The #Rockets definitely have something with this bench trio of Tari Eason, Usman Garuba and KJ Martin.
— ClutchFans (@clutchfans) November 13, 2022
Rockets have the lead up to eight on a 30-6 run with 10:18 left. Williamson and Ingram both in.
— Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) November 13, 2022
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