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Melancholy at the Rockets

After an amazing period with 20-2 record, the Texans have won only 13 out of 24 games, and tonight they are awaiting strong Jazz who are on a three game winning run

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There is no doubt that Houston Rockets are the most pleasant surprise of the season, but their results have been far from pleasing lately. After an amazing period in which they won 20 out of 22 games, Mike D'Antoni's team are at 13-11 record and it is clear that they cannot catch up to the top two teams, but they can find comfort in the fact that they will definitely not drop under the third position.

They gave a good performance on Monday at San Antonio where they lost 112-100, but they can regret a lot, since they had a 16 point lead and lost it all. They went into the last 30 seconds with 108-107 lead and then Kawhi Leonard scored a three pointer for the Spurs' lead, and then blocked James Harden's attempt and finished the game with two free throws. 

- Things didn't go our way. A few calls by the referees are questionable, and we were shaken by the fact that Ryan [Anderson] couldn't play in the second half. We didn't win, but I think we fought and played quite well - said Harden, who was great with 39 points (13/20) and 12 assists. 

Their most efficient player was Trevor Ariza with 13 points (5/11), while Clint Capela (6/11) and Eric Gordon (4/10) added 12 points each. Lou Williams scored only 5 points (1/10) which continued his mini run of bad performances. In the last three games he scored only 19 points combined, with 6/29 shots from the floor, after he recorded 24,0 points and 21/42 shots from the floor in his first three games here after he arrived from the Lakers. 

The Rockets will need him tonight since they are not expecting Anderson to play, he is having some back problems, and his minutes will probably be shared between Sam Decker and Ariza, while Gordon could also get more playing time. 

The Rockets have a few more difficult games ahead of them (Bulls, Cavaliers) after which they will face five opponents with negative records. This season they have a good 23-8 home court record, and tonight they will face Utah Jazz who are trying to defend their 4th position that gives them the home court advantage. Even though they were without two important bench players (Joe Johnson, Shelvin Mack) and a starter (George Hill), Quin Snyder's team defeated the Pelicans on Monday 88-83, which was their 6th win in the last 8 games. 

- The boys are taking over the weight, taking on different roles and fighting. We have been doing that the whole season. Playing like a team - said Rodney Hood, who was at a playing time limit (20 minutes) since it was a back-to-back game, which explains why he scored only 9 points (2/7). 

Gordon Hayward carried most of their weight in offense, he scored 23 points (10/20), while Rudy Gobert added 15 points (6/10) and rebounds. 

It is still unknown if the mentioned trio will play tonight. They are all officially questionable, and the free assumption is that at least Hill will play, and he is really the only one important. 

The Jazz and the Rockets have each won one of their two head-to-heads this season back in November, and both were won by the home team.