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Rockets' offense struggles in second straight loss
New Orleans 90, Houston 69
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Damien Pierce
Rockets.com Staff Writer
NEW ORLEANS -- The Hornets weren't going to let Tracy McGrady beat them.
Unfortunately for the Rockets, no one else did.
With McGrady bottled up and Houston suffering through another stagnant offensive performance, the Rockets suffered back-to-back losses for the first time in two months with a 90-69 setback to the Hornets Wednesday night at New Orleans Arena.
The Rockets (46-22) couldn't overcome a 25-point performance in the second half as their franchise-record 12-game road winning streak was snapped. With that, Houston dropped from first to third in the Western Conference standings.
The setback gave the Rockets their first losing streak since Jan. 15 and handed them their second consecutive loss after having their 22-game winning streak end against Boston.
But even after enduring another night where the Rockets didn't have an answer for a defense doubling McGrady, the Rockets weren't ready to panic over their sudden turn in fortune.
"It's just two games since we won 22 in a row, so I'm not going to panic at this point," Rockets coach Rick Adelman said. "But I'm disturbed that we lost two in a row and that not only have the other teams played pretty well, but we've really hit a wall. We've not had any answers at all.
In many respects, the performance was a replay from Tuesday's setback to Boston.
Despite the disappointing loss to Boston one night earlier, the Rockets didn't show any early signs of a letdown against New Orleans. The Rockets bolted to an early 14-point advantage before settling on a 44-39 lead going into the break.
But just like their showing against the Celtics, the Rockets couldn't solve a defense that was trapping McGrady -- and the issue resulted in another forgettable second half. The Hornets blizted the shooting guard with two defenders every time he touched the ball, forcing McGrady to give up the ball.
"We got to make it easier on him," Adelman said. "They're doubling him so hard. We have to finish when he gives the ball up."
McGrady did get more looks than the previous night -- he had 21 attempts compared to 11 against the Celtics -- but he made only six of them. He scored only two of his 15 points in the second half.
McGrady's supporting cast couldn't pick up the slack as they shot 34.1 percent and made a mere 2-of-19 three-point attempts.
"We're throwing the ball to T-Mac on the first possession and expecting him to make everything happen," Rockets forward Shane Battier said. "It helped us out for a few games. But against the really good defensive teams, it's not going to work. We need to find a way to run our offense."
Houston's offensive woes allowed the Hornets to turn the game into a rout in the fourth quarter.
Behind Chris Paul and Bonzi Wells, New Orleans opened the final period with a 20-6 burst. Wells, who was traded from Houston to New Olreans, scored 20 of his game-high 25 points in the fourth. Paul added 21 point and 10 assits.
With the impressive fourth, the Hornets (46-21) leaped-frogged over the Rockets for a share of the lead in the West with the Lakers.
"We were in the game for three quarters," McGrady said. "We just didn't have any energy in the fourth quarter. We just had mental breakdowns."
Unfortunately, the Rockets won't get any time to resolve those issues on the practice court.
Following Wednesday's setback in the Big Easy, Houston boarded a flight to Oakland and will take Thursday off before beginning another brutal back-to-back. The Rockets will visit Golden State on Friday and Phoenix on Saturday.
With that being the case, the Rockets are going to have to make some changes on the fly. Adelman said his team simply has to get back to sharing the ball to produce easier looks.
He's well aware teams are going to continue daring someone other than McGrady to beat them.
"We're not finishing at the basket at all," Adelman said. "We're not getting anything at all. But it's not time to say, 'Oh Jeez, we're a bad team.' We had a tough two-game stretch and we have to collect ourselves for Golden State."
