Rockets fall to 1-5 with 104-85 home loss to Portland Trail Blazers

Posted: October 30, 2018 -- 11:31 p.m.

The Houston Rockets' sluggish start to the 2018-2019 season continued Tuesday night in a 104-85 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers. Houston trailed by as much as 28 points in the game.

Chris Paul led the Rockets with 17 points. Paul scored 9 points in the fourth quarter when the game was out of reach. Paul made 4 of 5 field goals in the fourth period; however, Paul was 2 for 14 prior to the fourth period.

"I've definitely got to be better," Chris Paul said after the game. "I missed a lot of shots that are definitely makeable shots, and then we just got to keep getting better on defense."

The Rockets' defense was solid in the first quarter. Houston (1-5 this season) limited the Blazers to 19 points in the first quarter on 38.1% (8 for 21) field goal shooting. However, the #Rockets shot a frigid 19.2% (5 for 26) from the floor in the first.

Rockets' Head Coach Mike D'Antoni summarized the difference from last year's 5-1 start to this year's 1-5 start: "Last year, we played well. Right now, we're playing like crap."

Both teams struggled to make shots early in the second quarter; but, the Rockets tied the game at 28 thanks to a dunk from Carmelo Anthony followed by a steal by Melo which led to a three-point basket by Eric Gordon.

The Blazers (5-2) went on a 12-3 run to lead 40-31 with 2:53 until halftime. Portland extended the run with a 11-6 finish in the final three minutes and eleven seconds to lead 51-40 at halftime.

After Eric Gordon's three-point basket tied the game at 28, Houston was outscored 23-8 in the final 5:24 of the first half.

The Blazers began the third quarter with an 8-3 burst in the first 100 seconds. All eight points were uncontested:

Mike D'Antoni called timeout; however, after the timeout, the Blazers outscored the Rockets 17-9 to lead 76-48 with 5:05 remaining in the third quarter.

P.J. Tucker doesn't have the answers for the Rockets' struggles: "play great defense, probably our best defensive first half, (we) just couldn't score the ball and that's fine, kind of figured in our score. But for the start of the third quarter defensive like that is unacceptable, it's embarrassing."

Portland outscored Houston 34-26 in the third quarter. Blazers center Jusef Nurkic scored 14 of his 22 points in the third. Nurkic scored 22 points in 24 minutes. Nurkic took advantage of the Rockets' small-ball lineup and feasted. The last Blazer to record at least 20 points and 10 boards in 24 or fewer minutes played was Arvydas Sabonis with 32 and 10 at Golden State on 4/6/01.

The Rockets shot 23.3% from 3-point range tonight. Houston is 0-3 when shooting 33.3% or below from behind-the-arc this season. In 2017-18, 12 of the Rockets 17 losses came when shooting 33.3% or worse from downtown.

James Harden missed his second consecutive game due to his left hamstring injury. Clearly, his absence was felt; however, Tucker says Harden's absence is not the only reason for the team's struggles.

"Not having the MVP is tough," Tucker said. "Not having one of the best players in the league is tough because he initiates a lot of the offense and gets it going. But still we didn't shoot the ball well tonight again and that hurts. We took so many threes, and getting stops, and getting out in transition, we didn't finish as well either. It’s a whole bunch of stuff that accounts for that."

Chris Paul added: "We got to see what it feels like to win again first and foremost; but, we just got to keep competing."

Carmelo Anthony said, "Well, I think at this point we just all have to kind of just hold ourselves accountable and say ‘look were not playing the best that we can play’ and go from there. It’s always on to the next game. The good thing about it is were six games into the season, this is only game six, but the games that were losing, once it goes bad, it goes bad. So we have to fix that, we have to change that, we have to kind of have some sustainability out there. Have some force and some fight and get ready for the next game on Friday."

The Rockets begin a five-game road trip this Friday in Brooklyn, NY, against the Nets. Tip is set for 6 p.m. Central Time.

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