The Rockets have lost two straight against teams they should beat. They fell to the Utah Jazz on Monday and lost to Phoenix last night.
Houston shot a dismal 35.2 percent from the field and 29 percent from three against Phoenix. While the shooting was poor, Dwight Howard sees a bigger issue with his team.
“[Expletive] effort out there on defense and on offense,” said Howard. “The ball stuck … We didn’t move it and we can’t win that way….
“It had nothing to do with us missing shots,” Howard said. “They just played harder than us…It had nothing to do with the offensive game. They just played hard. We know what we [have to] do. It’s gotta be important for guys to come out and play the same way every night.”
It also doesn’t help that Jeremy Lin and Chandler Parsons are out due to injuries.