The last time the Houston Rockets were in Denver, they left angry and defeated. Five days later they have a chance to rewrite the ending when they return to face the Nuggets on Saturday afternoon.
Following Denver’s 128-125 overtime win on Monday night, Houston head coach Ime Udoka was critical of the officiating, especially the foul call on Amen Thompson with 2.3 seconds left in regulation that allowed the Nuggets to tie it with a free throw.
Udoka’s comments drew a fine from the league, and his mood wasn’t much better after his team lost another overtime game, this time in New Orleans on Thursday night. The Rockets blew a 25-point lead to the lowly Pelicans.
“After holding them to 45 in the first half, the team gave up 74 in the second half, 38 and a 36-point quarter,” Udoka said after the loss. “Obviously, that’s an embarrassing defensive effort there. But guys looked intimidated, scared out of double teams to make plays.”
Those two losses dropped Houston to fifth in the Western Conference standings, three games back of No. 2 Denver. After going 11-2 in November, the Rockets are 3-4 in December and a loss Saturday would give the Nuggets the season series and the tiebreaker.
Houston has the firepower to turn things around. Kevin Durant leads the team in scoring at 25.1 points per game. Alperen Sengun is second with 23.7 scoring average while leading the Rockets in rebounds (9.5) and assists (7.2).
Amen Thompson (17.6 points) and Jabari Smith Jr. (15.3) round out Houston’s main scoring threats.
Denver has won six in a row and the last two at home after dropping four straight there. In the 126-115 win over Orlando on Thursday night, Nikola Jokic became the all-time assists leader for centers, passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who finished his career with 5,660.
Jokic had 13 assists on Thursday night — part of his 13th triple-double of the season — and passed Abdul-Jabbar with his seventh dime of the night. His total sits at 5,667.
“It’s really cool. This is a time that I’ll be able to look back and appreciate all of the years that I’ve had to play this game with him,” guard Jamal Murray said. “It’s special. Passing Kareem in anything is pretty cool, so I think it just speaks to his greatness and how unselfish he is.”
Jokic is making a case for a fourth MVP trophy, averaging 29.6 points, 12.3 rebounds and 10.9 assists. His assists and rebounds lead the NBA, and he is fifth overall in scoring.
Murray is having a career year as well, averaging 25.2 ppg. He and Jokic have guided Denver through injuries to Aaron Gordon (hamstring), Christian Braun (ankle) and most recently Peyton Watson (right trunk contusion).
Watson was hurt against Houston on Monday night while Braun has been out since Nov. 12 and Gordon has been sidelined since the Nuggets’ road win over the Rockets on Nov. 21.
Jalen Pickett picked up some of the minutes with Watson out, scoring nine points in 24 minutes against Orlando.
“I thought that was Jalen’s best game of the year,” head coach David Adelman said.
