Rockets vs. Pelicans Takeaways: Horrific Start, Fourth Quarter Surge, Green's Shooting Struggles

Early in the second quarter, the Houston Rockets trailed the Pelicans by 31 points en route to a 119-108 road loss in New Orleans.

The Houston Rockets (10-28) dropped their fifth consecutive game in a 119-108 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans (24-14) inside the Smoothie King Center. Here are three takeaways from the Rockets' disappointing defeat.

Horrific start in New Orleans:

The Rockets are reverting to the old habits that plagued the first quarter of their season.

Turnovers were the major issue in their play against the New York Knicks, while late-game execution led to a five-point defeat to the Dallas Mavericks. And against the Pelicans, the team's readiness caused significant trouble.

"They [the Pelicans] brought physicality, downhill play, rebounding and readiness," coach Stephen Silas said. "I was disappointed with how we started the game. 

"I told the guys that they won three games in a row without Zion [Williamson] and Brandon Ingram. They spread the ball around and used it as an opportunity for their players to play — and play hard. We were not ready for that."

The game got out of hand for the Rockets quickly — 18 minutes precisely.

Houston fell into a 10-point deficit (16-6) five minutes into the first quarter. The Rockets gave up 45 points during the period and trailed the Pelicans by 31 points at the 7:27 mark of the second quarter.

Silas' night came to a premature end after receiving his second career ejection with four seconds left in the first quarter. He was annoyed by the lack of calls. But he was mostly upset by the Rockets' lousy start.

Houston's start against the Pelicans may have been their worst 18 minutes of play all season. But the remaining 30 minutes of play illustrated the Rockets taking control of the game. They outscored New Orleans 76-59 and appeared to be on the verge of a historic comeback during their fourth-quarter surge. 

"The best thing about the NBA is that we have an opportunity tomorrow to right our wrongs," Silas said. "But it has to be right from the start. We cannot start games like this."

A fourth quarter surge led by Josh Christopher and Boban Marjanovic:  

The fourth quarter was Houston's best period of the night. The Rockets outscored New Orleans 35-21 and cut their large deficit to seven with 47.0 seconds left in the period.

Josh Christopher proved why he should be receiving minutes as a rotational player. He came off the bench and recorded four points, a rebound and an assist in five minutes. But most importantly, Christopher changed the team's energy, which led to the Rockets' late-game surge.

Boban Marjanovic added to Houston's fourth-quarter surge along with Christopher. Marjanovic finished the night with five points, while he and Christopher recorded a combined plus-4.

"That's what I told the group after the game that they fought," Silas said. "They stayed in it and continued to fight. But we have to have that fight from the beginning of the game."

Is Jalen Green falling back into another shooting slump?

Jalen Green is slowly falling back into another slump. He finished the game with 16 points on 5-of-15 shooting, 2-of-8 from deep. Green's play against the Pelicans marked his third consecutive game shooting 35 percent or less.

Dating back to the Rockets' 20-point defeat to the Knicks, Green is averaging 17.3 points while shooting 32.4 percent from the floor.  

Best performance:

K.J. Martin wasted one of his best career games on a night the Rockets had no chance of winning. Martin scored a team-best 16 points while connecting on all seven of his shot attempts. He also provided Houston with solid contributions on the defensive end with a pair of steals and a block. 

Worst performance:

Kevin Porter Jr. had been the Rockets' best player since their road victory against the Chicago Bulls on Dec. 26. But against the Pelicans, Porter had one of his worst performances of the season. He scored 11 points on 4-of-11 shooting and registered a team-low minus-23.

Porter came into the night averaging 24.0 points on 52.6/41.4/78.6 shooting splits.

Final Words:

"As a leader, as a point guard of my team, I got to make sure we are prepared and come out the right way, and I didn't do that today. I'm the head honcho, and I didn't come out with the right energy — so It was contagious to my guys out there...that's on me." — Kevin Porter Jr

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You can follow Coty M. Davis on Twitter at @CotyDavis_24

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