On December 16, Beijing time, the NBA regular season continued, and the Rockets lost to the Cavaliers 89-124. In this game, the previous Rockets Wizard Garrison Matthews scored only 1 point on 0-of-6 shooting, and lost 30 points to his opponents on the field, completely without the surprise of the previous 7 consecutive wins.
And if you look closely at Matthews's data, you will find that he is not this 1 game did not play well, but 3 consecutive games of sluggish performance, against the Hawks, he only scored 5 points on 6 shots, and in the game with the Grizzlies, Matthews although cut 12 points, but the performance of 3 of 10 shots was not efficient.
Similarly to him, there was another lost draft, Brooks, who scored only 6 points on 2-of-9 shooting against the Hawks, while Brooks scored only 3 points on 1-of-6 shooting against the Cavaliers.
So why are Matthews and Brooks, who had previously played a heroic role, now gradually walking off the altar? Lucas Jr., the Rockets' assistant coach and interim replacement for Silas for the game, revealed the answer in a post-game interview.
"Their names have begun to appear in opponents' scouting reports and cannot get a chance to shoot in the open position. And if they can't score in the absence of Gordon and Wood, then our offense will be very struggling. Little Lux said.
And this explanation is indeed reasonable, because of the lack of fame before, so no one will pay attention to Matthews and Brooks this kind of failure to draft, but because the performance of the two during the previous 7 consecutive wins are excellent, and even rocket fans in the game with the Nets, directly for Matthews who still holds a two-way contract and has not turned right, in this case, the opponent will naturally begin to pay attention to them.
Coupled with the absence of Gordon and Wood in this game, Jaylen Green and Porter Jr. did not recover, which also means that the Rockets lack the ball holding point, so pure shooters such as Matthews and Brooks naturally lack people to feed them the ball and deliver shells, and can only barely shoot, and it is not surprising that the dud is dumb.
However, for these two missed drafts, Rockets fans should still be patient and not question them because of a few missed games. In fact, being able to play the previous explosive output is enough to prove that the two have the ability to stand in the NBA and can also help the Rockets, in the NBA, even if they are star players, it is very common for them to have ups and downs, not to mention their marginal people. And even if these games are not played well, the performance of the two has already exceeded the expectations of the fans, and naturally they should not be blamed.