10 IN A ROW
Houston Rockets edge Thunder in OT for milestone 10th consecutive win
Mar 28, 2024, 8:11 am
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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The Houston Astros have looked like one of baseball’s most dangerous teams in recent weeks, riding a hot streak fueled by dominant starting pitching and a red-hot offense that’s erupted for double-digit runs in four of their last eight games. But behind the current success, there are fair questions about whether this pace is truly sustainable as the grind of the season continues.
Yes, the Astros are winning — and winning big — but context matters. Many of their recent victories have come against struggling clubs like the White Sox and Athletics. Even matchups against the Twins and Guardians, while respectable, don’t exactly represent championship-caliber tests. That soft stretch of the schedule has certainly helped Houston pad its win column, but it may not be the best predictor of long-term performance. Houston will be tested in the upcoming series against the Phillies and Cubs.
On the pitching side, the numbers have been impressive, but how repeatable is it? With Lance McCullers Jr. sidelined for at least a couple of weeks, the Astros are relying on a patchwork rotation that includes unproven arms like Colton Gordon, Ryan Gusto, and Brandon Walter. While each has shown flashes, asking them to shoulder the load deep into the summer may be a tall order.
Offensively, Houston is firing on all cylinders. But scoring 10 or more runs every other game simply isn’t sustainable over a 162-game season. Regression is inevitable; the question is how the team responds when the bats cool down or the bullpen is asked to carry more weight.
Amid all this, rookie third baseman Cam Smith continues to shine. Just a few months into his major league career, Smith is producing at a level that suggests he’s not just a key piece of the future — he’s already one of the team’s most valuable players. His batting average sits just a point behind Jose Altuve’s, and his OPS is even higher. If the Astros were forced to choose two players to build around long-term, factoring in youth and contract status, the logical duo might be Smith and breakout pitcher Hunter Brown.
So what about the big picture? Is this team a true World Series contender?
Oddsmakers currently have Houston with the seventh-best odds to win it all, and only the Yankees and Tigers rank higher among American League teams. The core is still there, the experience is undeniable, and if the pitching continues to hold — especially with the anticipated return of Spencer Arrighetti and a healthy McCullers — the Astros have every reason to believe they’ll be in the mix deep into October.
But that’s a big “if.” The ceiling is still high, and with Cam Smith emerging as a star in real time, this team might just have another gear. Whether they can reach it when the competition stiffens, that remains to be seen.
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