The severely shorthanded Sixers fell just short of two Texas wins in two days.
They couldn’t hold off the Rockets’ second-half charge in a wild, high-scoring game Monday night, suffering a 144-137 overtime defeat.
Houston native Quentin Grimes was brilliant, recording the second 40-point game of his career and of the month. He posted a career-high 46 points and a career-high 13 rebounds.
Jabari Smith Jr. and Jalen Green each scored 30 points for the Rockets, who moved to 44-25.
The 23-45 Sixers fell to 1-1 on their six-game road trip.
Before the game, the Sixers ruled Paul George out for the season after the 34-year-old forward received injections to his left adductor muscle and left knee. The Sixers were again down double-digit players.
Next up for the Sixers is a Wednesday night matchup with the Thunder. Here are observations on their OT loss in Houston:
Oshae Brissett, who’s listed at 6-foot-7, 210 pounds, started the game guarding All-Star Rockets center Alperen Sengun.
Grimes swiped an early steal with a sneak-attack double team on Sengun. He blew the ensuing easy fast-break layup, but Grimes started strongly overall with a 12-point first quarter.
Tari Eason scored Houston’s first 11 points. Outside of Eason, the Rockets were scoreless over the first 6 minutes and 40 seconds. Houston settled for plenty of three-pointers and the Sixers continued to send effective double teams at Sengun. Brissett also forced him to work on the other end. He pump faked, drove past Sengun and finished an and-one layup.
Across the board, the Sixers’ starters played hard and well. Justin Edwards drove in for a big dunk that prompted Rockets head coach Ime Udoka to use his second timeout of the first quarter.
Houston turned to zone defense out of the timeout, but the Sixers’ offense just kept humming. A buzzer-beating Brissett three gave the Sixers a 44-28 lead through one period.
Coming off of a career-high 19-point performance Sunday in the Sixers’ win over the Mavs, Jalen Hood-Schifino sunk a corner three on his first touch.
Everyone was still draining jumpers in the second quarter for the Sixers. They made 15 first-half threes and posted a season-best 78 first-half points. Very unexpected showing by the drastically undermanned Sixers against a Rockets team that entered the night ranked second in the NBA in defensive rating.
The team’s 24 threes in the game tied a franchise record.
The Sixers didn’t build a 25-point lead early in the third quarter through sharpshooting alone. Brissett battled on the glass, Alex Reese took a charge on Smith, and the Sixers collectively outhustled the Rockets in the first half.
The shooting success also wasn’t just about a fortunate half. For the most part, the Sixers generated high-quality looks with sensible, confident, pacy offense and capitalized on their open opportunities.
Houston’s shooters seriously heated up in the third quarter. The Sixers badly struggled to find stops and the Rockets racked up 45 points in the third.
Offensively, the Sixers became quite shaky. Jeff Dowtin Jr. had a rough stint against Houston’s ball pressure and the Sixers weren’t nearly as comfortable or free-flowing. After Ricky Council IV missed a long three, Green made a driving layup with 37.9 seconds left in the third quarter, knotting the game at 102-all.
Grimes stepped up early in the fourth quarter, scoring the first seven points of the period. He’s been tremendous as a Sixer at recognizing when the team needs him to amp up the aggression and producing.
Jared Butler (21 points, five assists) then stopped Smith in isolation and swished a three seconds later to restore a double-digit Sixers lead. Butler’s done sharp and shifty work of late when opposing defenses have focused on Grimes, posting 40 points over the first two games of the Sixers’ road trip.
Grimes’ defensive effort remained valuable, too. He ripped the ball from Eason and got fouled by the Rockets forward with 3:52 to go in the fourth quarter. That was Eason’s sixth personal, and he picked up a technical foul for his comments after the call.
Later in the fourth, Fred VanVleet got ejected for a hard foul on Brissett that was upgraded from a Flagrant 1 to Flagrant 2 upon review. Grimes then delivered once more, drilling a three that seemed to extinguish Houston’s comeback chances.
However, the Rockets hung around and Grimes committed a poor turnover against Houston’s trapping defense, firing a pass into Green’s hands with about 10 seconds left. The Sixers then intentionally fouled Smith. He made his first free throw and intentionally missed the second. Sengun grappled with Brissett and converted a game-tying put-back layup.
Hood-Schifino missed an open mid-range jumper just before the fourth-quarter buzzer.
Houston maintained momentum, scoring the first six points of overtime. The Rockets kept grabbing important offensive rebounds and ended the night with a 27-10 advantage in second-chance points.
Grimes reached his career high with a tough, tightly contested three, but he didn’t have quite enough shotmaking magic in the closing stages of overtime.
He was still the best player on the floor Monday night and the main reason the Sixers were inches from a stunning win.
