- The Houston Rockets sustained a disappointing 122-116 defeat to the Los Angeles Clippers Wednesday night. The loss came after the Rockets gave up a 20-point lead. But more importantly, Houston's defense was a non-factor during the second half.
The Rockets allowed the Clippers to score 78 points on 67.5 percent shooting from the field and 61.5 percent from behind the arc. Paul George scored 19 of his 21 points in the second half, where the Clippers completed their comeback attempt.
Fred VanVleet attributed the Rockets' defensive collapse to the Clippers' one-on-one production from their respective future Hall of Famers, headlined by Kawhi Leonard, who scored 16 of his 28 points during the final two periods.
"We started upping our pressure a little bit and they started hitting the short roll and hitting the swing swings," VanVleet said. "They are going to make adjustments, but ultimately went down to the last three, four minutes and had a chance to win, but just didn't execute well enough to beat that team."
The Rockets had put together arguably their best start of the season when Houston was in control. Their defense held Los Angeles to 37.5 percent shooting while missing 11 of their first 13 attempts from behind the arc.
VanVleet noted that the Rockets' came out with great intensity and energy on both ends. Houston appeared to be on the verge of their most impressive victory of the season, as the Rockets tried to keep their Play-In Tournaments hopes alive.
The pinnacle of the Rockets' success against the Clippers came with five minutes left in the second quarter. Houston held a 50-30 lead over the Clippers. At the time, George and Leonard scored a combined eight points on 4 of 10 shooting, 0 of 4 from behind the arc.
"We guarded pretty well one-on-one," VanVleet said. "In the second half, they did better in one-on-one and they started to move the ball. It is a game of runs, it's ups and downs, but all in all, not good enough to close it out at the end."
The Rockets fell to 27-35 following their second-half collapse to the Clippers. Houston is now seven games back of the Los Angeles Lakers for the 10th and final spot for the Play-In Tournament as the 12th seed.
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