With John Wall resting on the front end of a back-to-back, the Houston Rockets probably needed backcourt mate Victor Oladipo to pick up some of the slack on Wednesday night in Oklahoma City.
While Oladipo scored 19 points, which was second-most on the Houston roster, he shot just 8-of-24 from the field (33.3%) and 1-of-8 on 3-pointers (12.5%). It all led to a 104-87 Thunder victory (box score), which snapped a season-long winning streak by the Rockets at six games.
Houston shot just 33-of-86 from the field (38.4%), and 12-of-46 on 3-pointers (26.1%) against the Thunder. Of those 12 makes, four came in the fourth quarter, long after the game had already been decided.
In postgame comments, the two-time All-Star took responsibility for much of what went wrong at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Oladipo said:
I gotta be better. This loss is on me. I take full blame. I gotta do a better job making sure the guys are ready, making sure I’m ready both physically and mentally. … It happened. We just got to be better.
.@VicOladipo takes the blame for the #Rockets loss at OKC: “I got to be better..This loss is on me. I take full blame. I got to do a better job making sure the guys are ready, making sure I’m ready, both physically and mentally..It happened. We just got to be better.” pic.twitter.com/ROxhbVUuKf
— Mark Berman (@MarkBermanFox26) February 4, 2021
For Oladipo, who missed his first seven 3-pointers, it was as simple as missing wide-open shots that he needed to make.
“I was just missing,” Oladipo said postgame. “If you see the shots in the first half, I was wide, wide open. Unfortunately in the NBA, there are nights like this where [bleep] just doesn’t go right for you.”
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Oladipo probably won’t get a chance to immediately make amends, since he’s expected to sit out Thursday in Memphis on the second half of Houston’s road back-to-back. Oladipo, however, says he’s hopeful of eventually playing in both ends of a back-to-back later this season.
Thursday’s tipoff between the Rockets (10-10) and host Grizzlies (9-7) is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. Central. Though Oladipo will almost certainly be sidelined, Wall is expected to make his return. The Rockets are 8-4 when Wall plays this season, and 2-6 when he does not.
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