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Win streak comes to an end as Houston slips in New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS – The Rockets offense was never right, not from the start and
not when they led by 12 with less than four minutes left in the third quarter.

There had been cracks beginning to show even as the win streak reached five
games in a high-scoring stretch of 10 wins in 12 games. The turnovers, had
been creeping up again, averaging 18 in the previous three games.

There had been games like Wednesday’s in Minnesota and at home against the
Hornets when the break bogged down and 3-pointers clanged. But James Harden
had kept the offense going long enough for someone off the bench to jump in
and turn things back around.

The Rockets might have had every reason to expect that again on Wednesday,
especially when they seemed to get things going in the second half. But the
offense that had carried them for weeks had come apart, slowed and sloppy
through a night filled with turnovers, until the Hornets lit up the fourth
quarter to roll to an 88-79 win Wednesday in New Orleans Arena.
今天卻顯得分崩離析, 又慢又不專注, 讓失誤在今晚一次又一次的發生, 最後導致了
黃蜂在第四節的反撲成功, 到手的蜂蜜飛了, 反到自己被蜂群叮了滿頭包

The loss ended the Rockets’ winning streak while extending their road losing
streak against Southwest Division opponents to 12 games. But the Rockets knew
they had invited New Orleans to run them off the floor with their own
offensive breakdown.

The Rockets scored fewer points in the first half (36) and second quarter
(14) than they had in any game this season. But in the fourth quarter, they
managed just 10 points, five fewer than the previous season-low they had
scored against New Orleans in November. Even to get that they needed four
meaningless points in the final minute with the Hornets already celebrating.
10分的第四節, 之前第四節最低得分紀錄是去年11月打黃蜂的15分

“We didn’t move the ball. We didn’t move our bodies,” Rockets coach Kevin
McHale said. “We had some careless turnovers. We were making passes, I don’
t know how we thought we were going to make some of those passes. It’s going
to catch you and it caught us tonight.”

Harden’s late free throw gave him 25 points, giving him a franchise record
14-consecutive games scoring at least 25 points. But he went 1 for 4 for 3
points in the fourth quarter.

Still, those three points made him the Rockets’ leading scorer in the
quarter. He was the only Rockets player in double figures.

“We just didn’t move the ball, simple,” said Harden, who had seven of the
Rockets 23 turnovers. “We got stagnant.”

The Rockets missed all nine of the 3-pointers they took in the fourth
quarter. Their 22.1 percent shooting in the quarter was their worst this
season.

“I’d say six or seven of them were wide open,” McHale said. “We’re going
to take those 3s. They’re good shots for us. We didn’t make them.
“I’m not worried about the shots. It’s the turnovers and not keeping them
off the glass that killed us.”
擔心這些, 重點是失誤啊!!

The Rockets rank fourth in the NBA defensive rebounding percentage; the
Hornets are 18th in offensive rebounding. But with New Orleans getting 16
offensive boards, the Hornets not only scored 16 second-chance points, they
slowed the Rockets’ break.
進攻籃板黃蜂不單靠這些進攻籃板取得了16分, 還讓拖慢了火箭的速度

The only time the Hornets did not pound the offensive glass was in the fourth
quarter when they did not need them as Roger Mason Jr. hit 5 of 5
fourth-quarter shots, scoring 15 of his 17 points. McHale went with his small
lineup, playing Patrick Patterson, Carlos Delfino and Chandler Parsons in the
frontcourt, but still could not get the 3-point shooting or running game
going.

“We didn’t get as much in transition,” Jeremy Lin said. “A lot of that
had to do with we turned the ball over a lot and we didn’t get defensive
rebounds and our shots weren’t really falling and we didn’t have the same
speed we normally play with.”

The Hornets had slowed the Rockets in each of their three meetings meetings,
as they had the Spurs in a similar win on Monday. But the Rockets had run
past other pace-control teams, especially Memphis and Chicago, often enough
to believe they can still be high-speed against other halfcourt teams,
including Boston and Philadelphia on the road trip.
一樣打法的灰熊&公牛都能贏, 所以可以相信以後若再遇上這樣的半場陣地戰隊伍, 像是
接下來的超賽 & 76人客場戰役, 還是有贏的機會的~

Still, just as there had been warning signs before the fourth quarter
collapse there were cracks forming before things fell apart on Wednesday. The
streak-ending loss to the Hornets brought a clear picture of where the
repairs will be needed.

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清晨霧一般的思念, 清新 double, 美麗 double, 捉摸不定 double...

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