The Houston Rockets are currently on an eight-game “learning streak.” Yes, you heard me right, an eight-game learning streak.
Before you start tweeting about how I misspelled the word “losing” twice, hear me out. I know that the Rockets have lost a season-high eight games in a row dating back to an Oct. 24 loss to the Boston Celtics, but it has been the last five losses that should give Rockets fans some hope.
To start that run, Houston lost in back-to-back games to the 2019-20 NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers. They followed that with a defeat to the 2020-21 Western Conference champion Phoenix Suns.
On Saturday, they fell short versus reigning NBA MVP Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets. All four losses were by a combined 25 points. They led until late in the second quarter during Sunday’s loss at Golden State, which came without Eric Gordon and on night two of a back-to-back.
What brings optimism to head coach Stephen Silas after this road trip is that his team has led at the half in the majority of those games. It may sound like a small victory, but for a team that plays two 19-year-old rookies in its rotation, they should embrace tose small victories.
Silas wants to see the energy and effort from his team carry over into the second halves, and he knows it is a season-long process.
“We have to learn how to finish games and learn how to win,” Silas said after a one-point loss at Denver on Saturday. “Showing all that we have shown on this (road) trip… makes me feel good about what is to come.”
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