On February 11, Beijing time, the Rockets lost to the Raptors at home 120:139, suffered four consecutive losses, and in the last 10 games, only achieved a record of 2 wins and 8 losses, continuing to rank 15th in the West.
This game is the first game of the Rockets after the trade deadline, before the trade deadline, the Rockets sent away Theis, in exchange for Schroder and Fernando, in order to free up the trade quota, thus cutting Augustine and Brooks, while the Raptors traded Dragic before the trade deadline, got Yubanks and Thaddeus Young, and the trade of the two teams had a relatively small impact on this game.
In this game, Rockets guard Eric Gordon is still on the sidelines, and Silas has changed the rocket's starting lineup again, using the wood + Shenkin dual center interior configuration, returning from this game to the starting lineup of Porter, Green, Tate, Matthews and Wood.
When Silas changed the lineup without a dual center configuration, the Rockets' firepower on the offensive end immediately burst out, Matthews' three-point projection was quite threatening, which could open up space for other players, And Porter opened with consecutive three-point shots, and could also break through to the inside line with the ball and become the vanguard of the Rockets' offensive end.
When the Rockets space is better, Wood, Porter, Green three players in the projection and holding the ball to break through more calmly, Matthews's main effect is to open up space, Tate's main effect is to attack the inside frame, change the opponent's defensive formation, the Rockets in such a lineup, the offense appears to be very smooth.
In the opening stage, the Raptors' defense is not good, especially Anunoby, who often sleepwalks on the court, lets the Rockets pass the hand and cut through many times, and the blocking and dismantling of the empty cut, the Rockets' cooperation can always seize the Raptors' defensive weaknesses, the Raptors' defensive focus is not good, often exposing the loopholes in the defense.
And in the alternate transition section, Silas avoided the full bench lineup appearance, resulting in poor offensive and defensive, Wood, Porter and Green, at least two players were present, driving the bench lineup, in the alternate articulation section, Shen Jing's passing ability and passing talent were revealed, becoming the highlight of the Rockets' offensive end, martin Jr.'s end on the inside line, becoming the most stable scoring point for the Rockets bench lineup, because The state of Porter, Green and Wood in this game is very good, prompting the Rockets not to show huge problems on the offensive end, The problem still arises on the defensive end.
On the defensive end, the Rockets made a lot of mistakes, the most intuitive feeling is that the Rockets face the Raptors' defensive changes, it seems extremely uncomfortable, especially the Raptors use the full-court defense, resulting in the Rockets repeatedly serve the ball error, resulting in the opponent in the backcourt steals, easy to score, the Rockets this game such a direct loss of points at least 10 points.
The Rockets' mistakes were rampant, the Rockets made 21 mistakes in this game, while the Raptors only had 11 turnovers, and the Rockets were hit by the Raptors with too many turnovers to convert scores.
Rockets against the Raptors' top card Siakam defense is not good, whether it is Tate, ShinKin, or Wood, facing Siakam through the power confrontation to the inside line back, the Rockets simply do not have a defensive matching point, let Siakam cut 30 points, in the Rockets inside the line to give a request, for this reason the Rockets inside the line lost up to 70 points, the Rockets scored only 54 points on the Raptors inside line, and Siakam shot 19 shots 13, becoming a nightmare for the Rockets defense.
The Rockets' defense of the outside line is also not good, giving Trent a large number of empty three-point opportunities, sanctioned by Trent, Trent cut 42 points, three-point 13 shots 6, while Anunoby also shot many three-pointers, sanctions rocket defense can not be taken into account inside and outside.
The Rockets' rebounding protection was also not good, allowing the Raptors to grab 14 offensive rebounds, most of which were converted to points, although the Rockets also grabbed 13 rebounds, which were converted to points.
Coupled with the fact that there are too many cases of the Rockets being blasted at a single point, Porter Jr. is passed by one step, and Wood's defense is useless in front of the Raptors' offense, prompting the Rockets to lose to the opponent by 139 points without overtime, which shows how bad the Rockets' defense is.
In a game where neither team defended well, the Raptors' offense was more stable, the players' offensive level and offensive certainty were higher, and the Rockets made more mistakes made by young people on the defensive end, prompting the point difference to be widened, but in this game, the Rockets focused on cultivating Kevin Porter Jr. and Jaylen Green both showed a certain degree of progress, which is more meaningful for the Rockets than losing, when the team has been looking to the future, the growth of young players is the only goal of the team.