Rockets let another game get away late as frustration boils over in loss to Heat

Jason Fochtman/Staff photographer

The act of giving up leads is by now so perfected by the Houston Rockets that they may consider it an art. On Sunday against the Miami Heat, the Rockets found themselves trailing 98-94 in a game they had once led by 12 points.

Two nights earlier, the Rockets blew a 15-point, fourth-quarter lead in a crushing loss to the Timberwolves. They did not get that far ahead late on Sunday, building out a seven-point lead in the fourth quarter that the Heat erased with a string of unanswered baskets.

But this time after another Houston lead slipped away and the final buzzer sounded, a significant portion of the Rockets were not there to hear it.

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The Rockets did not just let the Heat beat them with shot-making in a 104-100 loss at Toyota Center. They also undermined themselves with cold shooting and hot tempers.

In the fourth quarter, the Rockets had almost as many people ejected (five) as they had made field goals (six). Five Rockets and two Heat players were ejected over an 11-second span in the final minute of the game.

Down by 4 coming out of a timeout with 47.4 seconds remaining in the game, Rockets guard Fred VanVleet failed to get the ball inbounded and the Rockets turned the ball over on a five-second violation. VanVleet was then given a technical and ejected from the game for bumping the head referee, which VanVleet said was unintentional.

A few seconds later during a dead ball, Rockets guard Amen Thompson grabbed Heat guard Tyler Herro’s jersey and flung him to the floor. The two had to be separated and a rash of ejections followed. Thompson and Herro were thrown out, as were Rockets guard Jalen Green, Heat guard Terry Rozier, Rockets coach Ime Udoka and Rockets assistant Ben Sullivan.

Thompson had left the arena and was not available for comment immediately after the game. Herro described the fight as, “Two competitors going at it, playing basketball.”

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“Guess that’s what happens when someone’s scoring, throwing dimes, doing the whole thing,” said Herro, who scored a game-high 27 points with nine assists. “So I’d get mad, too.”

Udoka said he rewatched the scuffle after the game.

“They were in each other’s face, bumping chests a little bit,” he said. “One guy’s stronger than the other one.”

In an interview with a pool reporter, NBA crew chief Marc Davis said Thompson and Herro were ejected for fighting and Green and Rozier were ejected because their actions escalated the altercation. Davis said Udoka and Sullivan were ejected for “unsportsmanlike comments directed at me.”

Asked what he said to Davis, Udoka said, “If what I said gets me kicked out, I’d be kicked out every game.”

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The 11 free throws the Heat shot in the fourth quarter did not help the Rockets, but a bigger problem was that the Rockets shot 6-of-25 from the field in the quarter. After VanVleet’s layup put the Rockets ahead 92-85 with 8:10 remaining, Houston missed 11 shots in a row.

“Scoring at the end in both of those games obviously stands out, and that’s something that has to be addressed,” Udoka said. “(Miami) finished with 23 in that (fourth) quarter, and they had a ton of free throws at the end and technicals and all that. So we are guarding well enough to hold Minnesota to 100 until they go on their run, but we are struggling to score at the end. And so that’s something that needs to be solved.”

Dillon Brooks returned to the Rockets’ starting lineup from a three-game injury absence and scored a team-high 22 points. Green provided a third-quarter surge with 14 of his 19 points and VanVleet scored 16 points, eight in the fourth quarter prior to his ejection.

The game was physical from the start but became increasingly chippy at the start of the second half as the Rockets built the lead they later gave away. In the third quarter, Brooks and Heat center Bam Adebayo were given a double technical foul after Brooks made a 3-pointer and taunted Adebayo.

VanVleet said he didn’t believe the Rockets’ frustrations at losing the lead caused the various ejections, or vice versa.

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“Our play had nothing to do with those moments,” he said. “I think that there’s a common denominator in some of these scuffles and the way the game is officiated, and just the mood and the energy in the building and the game, and you can kind of tell. So, you know, Marc chose that moment in time to try to get the game under control by throwing me out for bumping him. And then it got worse. So you never know, you know, what’s the cause of anything? But it wasn’t like there was something brewing and we wanted to lash out.”

The Rockets entered the game as the NBA’s top offensive rebounding team and the Heat ranked in the top 10 in 3-point percentage and makes, but neither team played to its strengths to start. In the first half, the Heat outrebounded the Rockets while the Rockets made more 3-pointers.

Although Rockets center Alperen Şengün scored 14 points on 7-of-7 shooting in the first half, the rest of the Rockets shot 13-of-41. Miami shot 46.5% in the first half with three starters scoring in double figures.

After starting the game 1-of-8 from the field, somewhere in a back storage closet at Toyota Center during halftime, Green found his shot. He was 5-of-9 in the quarter but the Rockets couldn’t stop Herro and the Heat from closing the gap to within one point at the end of the third.

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Down the stretch, Heat defenders chased the Rockets underneath screens and crowded driving lanes. Adebayo, an NBA All-Defense player, locked down Şengün, who went 0-for-4 in the fourth quarter. Green was 0-for-3. The Rockets’ 18 points tied their fourth-quarter season low.

Houston’s defense is holding opponents to 43.5% shooting in fourth quarters this season, the third-lowest percentage in the NBA, but the offense is shooting a league-worst 42.9%.

“You’re searching for someone to kind of shoulder the load, I guess,” Udoka said. “You like to do it as a team, like we try to do all game, or you go with a hot hand at times. But teams aren’t going to allow you to just continue to go with what works. You have to find secondary options and that’s when, whether it’s Alperen in the post and finding the guys open, you got to make those shots, or other guys penetrating and setting their teammates up.”

Brooks said he felt the Rockets standing up for one another in the skirmish represented what the team strives to be about, even if the basketball they played in the minutes preceding it did not.

“Play hard, play together, defend one another, make a defensive battle. I feel like the last two games, you know, we’ve been losing that towards the end of the game,” Brooks said. “We got to find a way to put it together for 48.”

Dillon Brooks’ return let the Rockets go back to the preferred starting lineup they have used in 26 games (now 27) this season, with Brooks alongside Fred VanVleet, Jalen Green, Jabari Smith Jr. and Alperen Şengün. Amen Thompson returned to his bench role.

With Jimmy Butler out for a fifth consecutive game and Duncan Robinson injured, the Heat went with a starting lineup of Tyler Herro, Terry Rozier, Haywood Highsmith, Kevin Love and Bam Adebayo. Miami is 2-2 when using this starting lineup this season.

Rockets coach Ime Udoka said pregame that starter Dillon Brooks is active for the game against Miami. Brooks had missed the last three games with a right ankle injury.

Tari Eason (left lower leg injury management) remains a game-time decision, Udoka said, and Jae’Sean Tate (illness) is out.

Rockets forward Tari Eason’s status has been day-to-day for the last two weeks, depending on how sore his surgically repaired leg feels. Before Sunday’s game, Rockets coach Ime Udoka said that Eason is “going in the right direction” and that the team does not believe he needs to be medically re-evaluated at the moment.

“Obviously, if it lingers longer than expected, but the pain has subsided and he’s been very close to going in,” Udoka said. “So we just want to make sure that 100% of the pain is dissipated before he gets back out there. And so if the pain doesn’t go down, obviously with less workouts or games or ramp up, that would be a concern, obviously. But he’s going in the right direction.”

About four hours before tipoff, Rockets forward Jae’Sean Tate was listed as questionable (illness). Injuries to Dillon Brooks and Tari Eason allowed Tate to work back into the Rockets’ rotation recently and he has played well, providing a rebounding and defensive spark often as the first substitution off the bench. In Houston’s last four games, Tate is averaging 15.9 minutes, 7.3 points on 55% shooting, 2.8 rebounds and 1.0 steals.

Miami Heat guard Jimmy Butler remains out with what the team is calling return to competition conditioning. Butler for weeks has been the subject of intense trade speculation, which led Heat president Pat Riley to declare on Thursday, “We will make it clear — we are not trading Jimmy Butler.”

Heat starting guard Duncan Robinson will not play against the Rockets after he was added to the Heat injury report on Sunday with right foot inflammation, which he sustained during Saturday’s loss to the Hawks. The Heat could replace Robinson in the starting lineup with Nikola Jovic, who is listed as probable wit a left ankle sprain, or Terry Rozier.

Josh Richardson (right heel inflammation) and Dru Smith (left achilles surgery) are out for Miami. Pelle Larsson (right ankle sprain) is available.

Rockets guard/forward Dillon Brooks (right ankle effusion), who missed the last three games, and forward Tari Eason (left lower leg injury management), who missed the last five games, are listed as questionable to play against the Heat. The Rockets did not have shootaround on Sunday morning.

Fans are understandably worried about Eason given his injury history — he had surgery on his leg in March to remove a lesion that limited him to 22 games last season — but the Rockets have maintained that there is no long-term concern. Prior to Friday’s game against the Timberwolves, in which he did not play, Eason participated in shootaround and warmed up on the court at Toyota Center. Rockets coach Ime Udoka reiterated on Friday that Eason’s status will continue to be game-to-game.

If Brooks cannot play against the Heat, expect guard Amen Thompson to start in his place for the Rockets.

The three-person referee crew assigned to the game: Marc Davis, Jason Goldenberg and Tyler Mirkovich.

Date: Sunday, Dec. 29

Time: 6 p.m.

Location: Toyota Center

TV: Space City Home Network

Radio: KBME 790/ KTRH 740 AM, TUDN 93.3 FM (Spanish)

Odds courtesy of BetOnline.

Favorite: Rockets (-8.5)

Rockets moneyline: -360

Heat moneyline: +290

Over-under total: 216.5

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Rockets let another game get away late as frustration boils over in loss to Heat

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