In the NBA’s 2025-26 regular season to date, the Houston Rockets rank No. 7 in overall net rating (+4.9). But in fourth quarters, that figure dips to No. 16 (-0.5).
For the season as a whole, the Rockets are 34-21 and No. 4 in the Western Conference standings. But in “clutch” games, defined as the score being within five points in the final five minutes, Houston is just 14-16.
The latest illustration of those discrepancies was perhaps the most painful. After leading by 18 points early in the fourth quarter, the Rockets lost to the Knicks in Saturday’s road matchup at Madison Square Garden, 108-106 (box score).
Houston committed nine turnovers in the final frame and shot below 30% from the field.
In postgame comments, both All-Star forward Kevin Durant (who scored a game-high 30 points) and head coach Ime Udoka offered their perspectives regarding the latest collapse.
Durant said (via Will Guillory, The Athletic):
In a lot of our games when we’re up 10, 12, 14 (points) we just give it away because we don’t play with that dominant trait. thought, in the first three quarters, we played with more pace. In the fourth quarter, we were just stagnant to start. It gave them momentum. We were giving up layups and turnovers. I just think we relaxed a bit coming into the fourth quarter.
Keep it simple. … In the third quarter, we were attacking the guys we needed to attack. We were moving the basketball. We weren’t holding it too long. We were catching and shooting. Guys were driving and kicking. I thought in that fourth, we held it too long. We were trying to get our game going at the top of the key. We didn’t run into screens fast enough. We didn’t get separation on screens fast enough.
Durant added (via Varun Shankar, Houston Chronicle):
We sit there and wait, wait, wait, and then boom, you’re playing against the late (shot) clock. … You’re rushing. You might look up, it’s three to four seconds, the bench yelling at you: ‘Go, go, go.’ You put yourself in tough positions.
Udoka said (via Kelly Iko, Yahoo! Sports):
Ball stopped moving, started isolating too much. Same story — we’ve lost too many games like this. I’m telling Amen (Thompson) and Reed (Sheppard) to be more demonstrative and get us into our sets, it’s not time to freestyle. Turnovers hurt, but bad offense is just as bad.
Sheppard didn’t play in the game’s final five-plus minutes, as Udoka is often reluctant to trust the second-year guard defensively on high-leverage possessions.
Defensively, Dorian Finney-Smith struggled down the stretch versus bulky Knicks big man Karl Anthony-Towns (25 points, 66.7% FG). Meanwhile, Jalen Brunson added 8 points in the decisive fourth quarter on perfect 4-of-4 shooting, with two makes apiece against Jabari Smith Jr. and Tari Eason.
But it was clearly the offensive end of the court, where Houston scored just 15 points in the fourth after putting up 37 in the third, that most frustrated Durant and Udoka.
To Udoka’s point, Thompson and Sheppard are just 23 and 21 years old, respectively. Many of those issues with getting into sets could theoretically be resolved with time and also the return of Fred VanVleet, a veteran floor general known for his ability to minimize turnovers.
But in all likelihood, VanVleet won’t return from his torn ACL until the start of the 2026-27 season in the fall, and the 2026 playoffs are less than two moths away.
In the meantime, Houston still has Durant playing at an All-Star level, but it doesn’t appear that its supporting cast is ready for prime time. And if it doesn’t happen in Durant’s age-37 season, the question is how many more opportunities the Rockets will have before their superstar forward starts showing inevitable signs of age-related decline.
This article originally appeared on Rockets Wire: ‘Same story’: In latest collapse, Rockets lament ‘freestyle’ offense
Reporting by Ben DuBose, Rockets Wire / Rockets Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
