The Houston Rockets have lost only twice this season, but both defeats have exposed troubling fourth-quarter defensive lapses.
In their 117-107 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday, they surrendered 35 fourth-quarter points, nearly matching the 40 points they allowed in the final period of their loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Oct. 30.
Houston will try to address that and other issues when they visit the Phoenix Suns on Saturday.
“We just can’t guard,” Rockets forward Kevin Durant said after the loss to Minnesota. “They’re making shots on us. That happened the whole game. I just think we were too loose on them and they got going.”
LaMelo Ball, Jonathan Kuminga and Bones Hyland hit four 3-pointers each for the Timberwolves. Compounding Houston’s perimeter vulnerability was its inability to slow dribble drives. Ayo Dosunmu thrived off the dribble with 21 points and six assists.
On the other end of the floor, Houston struggled with the ball. The Timberwolves converted 22 Houston turnovers into 33 points. The Rockets expected improved ball security this season with the return of guard Fred VanVleet from injury, but they entered the weekend tied for 16th in the NBA in turnovers, averaging 15.9 per game.
“We knew how (the Timberwolves) were going to play,” Rockets coach Ime Udoka said. “Anytime the ball touches the paint, whether it’s a dribble drive, isolation, pick-and-roll, they’re a team that swarms. We showed a good amount of clips of that, and I think our awareness was very poor.”
The Suns changed their starting lineup Thursday and snapped a four-game losing streak with a 117-104 home victory over the Orlando Magic in the second game of a season-high seven-game homestand.
Phoenix swapped out second-year center Khaman Maluach for third-year big Oso Ighodaro, and Ighodaro made an impact beyond the box score (two points, five rebounds, one block). Ighodaro’s screens helped free Devin Booker for 30 points and eight assists, while his defensive versatility gave Phoenix more flexibility against Orlando’s perimeter players.
“It helps a lot,” Booker said. “It keeps the flow of the offense going. The ability to switch on the defensive end. Obviously we’re giving up some size, so we’ve got to do a little bit more in helping rebound.
“But overall, it’s a different pace. Not saying one is better than the other, but it’s definitely different. You can feel it when you’re out there.”
Phoenix hopes the victory marked progress toward correcting its defensive problems. After finishing last season 10th in defensive rating, the Suns entered the weekend 29th in that category.
“You can talk process, process, process, and we do believe there are steps to take so it feels right and looks right — both,” Suns coach Jordan Ott said. “But you do want a result. The goal is to win the game.
“We feel steadily improving. It wasn’t a full 48 (minutes), but we’re getting closer. Defensively is where we’ve got to hang our hat. We know it helped us last year. This is a defensive-minded group. We know we’ve got to guard the ball, and we have to rebound. That’s going to be two things we’re going to harp on all season.”
