10 IN A ROW

Houston Rockets edge Thunder in OT for milestone 10th consecutive win

Houston Rockets edge Thunder in OT for milestone 10th consecutive win
Rockets extend winning streak to 10. Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images.

The Houston Rockets didn’t care that they beat an Oklahoma City squad that was missing its best player, All-Star guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

The Rockets celebrated loudly in the locker room after escaping with a win at one of the toughest venues in the league. Jalen Green scored 37 points and Houston won its 10th straight game, defeating the Thunder 132-126 in overtime on Wednesday night.

“It was lit, it was lit,” Green said. “Everybody was happy, celebrating, screaming. I mean, we fought for that one. We worked hard.”

Rockets coach Ime Udoka said it’s all about stacking victories.

“Ten in a row is 10 in a row, regardless if Shai is out or whatever the case may be,” Udoka said. “But it’s hard to do in the NBA. The guys are proud of that effort, and well deserved.”

Amen Thompson had 25 points and 15 rebounds and Dillon Brooks added 20 points for the Rockets.

Gilgeous-Alexander, who was out with a bruised right thigh, ranks third in the league with 30.4 points per game.

Josh Giddey matched a career-high with 31 points for the Thunder, one night after scoring a season-high 25 in a win at New Orleans. Jalen Williams added 23 points and 10 assists for Oklahoma City, which entered the night a half game behind the Western Conference-leading Denver Nuggets.

Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault made no excuses for the loss.

“Every night, there’s a combination of things you can control and things you can’t,” he said. “You want to be a team that looks at the stuff you can control. We just never want to turn a page and chalk an entire game up to luck or shot-making or refs or anything like that. You want a team that takes full accountability for what we can. We do that after wins, we do that after losses and we’ll do that after this one.”

The final minutes of regulation were hectic. Giddey hustled to the ball and got a shot to bounce in while sitting on the floor a few feet in front of the free-throw line, putting the Thunder ahead 103-102 with just under four minutes remaining.

Oklahoma City’s Williams made a contested 3-pointer with 4.7 seconds remaining to tie the score at 112. Green’s layup at the buzzer rolled away, forcing overtime.

“Had a decent look at a shot, but we felt OK, put it behind us and we just went after it,” Udoka said.

Brooks hit two 3-pointers early in the extra period to put the Rockets in control.

“It was big when Dillon came out and hit those two, and then we guarded even better until the end of the overtime,” Udoka said.

The game had a little extra flair from the start. Confetti from a previous event rained down on the floor right before the tip.

The Thunder trailed by double digits in the first quarter, but rallied to lead 50-49 at halftime.

The Thunder led 69-62 when Giddey fouled Jabari Smith Jr. Giddey tried to help him up and Brooks pushed Giddey away and was issued a technical foul. It was Brooks’ 14th of the season, putting him two short of a one-game suspension.

Oklahoma City took an 85-80 lead into the fourth quarter.

UP NEXT

Rockets: Visit the Utah Jazz on Friday night.

Thunder: Host the Phoenix Suns on Friday night.

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Jake Meyers is the latest Astro to be rushed back from injury too soon. Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images.

Houston center fielder Jake Meyers was removed from Wednesday night’s game against Cleveland during pregame warmups because of right calf tightness.

Meyers, who had missed the last two games with a right calf injury, jogged onto the field before the game but soon summoned the training staff, who joined him on the field to tend to him. He remained on the field on one knee as manager Joe Espada joined the group. After a couple minutes, Meyers got up and was helped off the field and to the tunnel in right field by a trainer.

Mauricio Dubón moved from shortstop to center field and Zack Short entered the game to replace Dubón at shortstop.

Meyers is batting .308 with three homers and 21 RBIs this season.

After the game, Meyers met with the media and spoke about the injury. Meyers declined to answer when asked if the latest injury feels worse than the one he sustained Sunday. Wow, that is not a good sign.

 

Lack of imaging strikes again!

The Athletic's Chandler Rome reported on Thursday that the Astros didn't do any imaging on Meyers after the initial injury. You can't make this stuff up. This is exactly the kind of thing that has the Astros return-to-play policy under constant scrutiny.

The All-Star break is right around the corner, why take the risk in playing Meyers after missing just two games with calf discomfort? The guy literally fell to the ground running out to his position before the game started. The people that make these risk vs. reward assessments clearly are making some serious mistakes.

The question remains: will the Astros finally do something about it?


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