Wizards vs. Rockets Takeaways: Complacency Leads To Second-Half Collapse

After leading by as many as 19 points, the Houston Rockets took their foot off the gas, which led to a second-half collapse in a loss against the Wizards.

HOUSTON — The Houston Rockets (11-37) blew a 19-point lead in a 108-103 loss to the Washington Wizards (22-26) Wednesday night inside the Toyota Center. Here are three takeaways from the Rockets' latest disappointing defeat.

Complacency leads to second-half collapse:

In seven of their last nine games, the Rockets have given up leads in the second half due to their inability to maintain their play. And against the Wizards, the Rockets duplicated their struggles.

"It started late in the third quarter," coach Stephen Silas said. "We got away from building winning habits. We have to be better. I don't know if it was the factor of us playing so well that we started to take it for granted. But we are not a team that can do that."

Houston came out of halftime holding a 58-43 lead and once held a 19-point advantage late in the second quarter. But at the start of the third period, the Rockets began to become complacent and lose their momentum.

Houston committed 10 turnovers during the final 24 minutes, and their defense became non-existent. The Wizards outscored the Rockets 65-45 during the second half while shooting 45.8 percent from the field, 44.4 percent from behind the arc.

"It sucks," K.J. Martin said. "We had a good lead, but we could not get stops at the end of the day. They came off a back-to-back and came out slow. But in the second half, they had more energy."

Kyle Kuzma ignites fourth-quarter comeback:

The Rockets' second-half collapse was due to their own wrongdoings. But Kyle Kuzma catching fire in the fourth quarter did not help. Kuzma scored 20 of his 33 points during the final period to lift the Wizards past the Rockets.

"They started to hit shots, and we put our heads down a bit," Martin said. "We have to understand that guys are going to hit shots. We cannot think, 'oh, they are going to have an off night.' 

"Once they started to hit shots, we needed to be the aggressors. We got punched in the mouth and did not respond well."

Kuzma did not join the list of players who have scored 40 or more points against the Rockets this season. But his performance during the fourth quarter was just as detrimental.

Over the last five games, Kuzma came into Houston averaging 27.6 points on 44.7 percent shooting. He scored 30 points in a win against the Dallas Mavericks 24 hours earlier.

"We did not close out," Silas said. "He is a shooter. We have to close out and sprint to the shooter, and we did not do that."

Jalen Green shows more inconsistency: 

Jalen Green scored a career-high 42 points (15-25 FG, 6-12 3PT) in Monday's win against the Minnesota Timberwolves. But as anticipated against the Wizards, his play declined. 

Green finished the night with 19 points (6-19 FG, 2-8 3PT), equaling his scoring average of 19.2 points in games that followed a 30-plus performance.

"They were in man defense for most of the game, but then they started to double me," Green said. "Alperen and I were talking, and that's when we need to get into more pick-action hand-offs instead of sticking to straight pick-and-rolls."

Best performance:

Alperen Sengun recorded his second career triple-double on a night the Rockets presented fans with a bobblehead of the second-year prospect from Turkey.

He recorded 21 points, 11 rebounds, and a career-high tying 10 assists, to go along with three steals and a pair of blocks. 

Sengun's performance helped improve his averages to 23.6 points, 7.2 rebounds, 2.0 blocks and 1.2 steals in a five-game span. He became the fifth player since 2001 to achieve this feat by joining Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kevin Garnett, Nikola Jokic and Chris Webber.

Worst performance:

In his first game back after a two-game absence due to an ankle injury, Jabari Smith Jr. had an appalling night on the offensive end. 

Smith shot 2-of-10 from the field and missed all five of his attempts from behind the arc for six points, which marked the 17th game he finished scoring in single digits.

Silas described Smith's play as rusty. But he did provide the Rockets with a solid performance on the defensive end with seven rebounds and a block.

Final Words:

"Whatever with the young and inexperienced, we have to be better than that." — Stephen Silas  

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

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