Houston Rockets: Three reasons to not panic about the tough loss to the Pelicans
By T.A. Mock
The Houston Rockets suffered a tough loss in their opening game against the Pelicans. Here are three reasons not to panic after this disappointing showing.
Finally, after months of waiting, the Houston Rockets 2018-19 campaign kicked off Tuesday night against the New Orleans Pelicans. Ultimately, the opener did not go as anyone expected or hoped and the Pelicans dominated the court start to finish for a 131-112 win.
The Pelicans frontcourt duo was just unbelievable all night. The combination of Anthony Davis and Nikola Mirotic was just deadly and the Rockets did not appear ready to handle what they brought. Both players ended up with 30+ points and 10+ rebounds. Davis nearly had a triple-double with eight assists and also added three blocks and three steals.
The rest of the Pelicans team fared pretty well too. E’Twaun Moore had a nice game, Jrue Holiday struggled a bit but was still effective, and Elfrid Payton snuck in a triple-double with 10 points, rebounds, and assists. Julius Randle also played some very good minutes as their sixth man.
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The Houston Rockets, on the other hand, saw the team struggle in their first action since game seven of the Western Conference Finals. Chris Paul and James Harden both had pretty decent games but it was a far cry from what’s become expected of them even though Harden nearly snuck in his first triple-double of the season.
After starting off hot, Carmelo Anthony quickly cooled off and struggled to find his rhythm in his first game off the bench of his career. James Ennis was solid in his Rockets debut while Clint Capela struggled in his first game on his shiny new contract.
The biggest bright spot for the Houston Rockets, though, may have been PJ Tucker and his 57.1% three-pointer percentage. Tucker had a phenomenal game and if he can even remotely continue that three-point shooting excellence the Rockets will be in good shape.
Regardless, it was a little troublesome that the Rockets struggled against the presumably lesser Pelicans team. However, there is no reason to panic, in fact, here are three reasons why.