ERIC GORDON

Hello everyone, this is KPRC 2 Sports Director Randy McIlvoy checking in with his week’s Rockets Newsletter!

Fred VanVleet scored 32 points, Gary Trent Jr. added 29 and the Toronto Raptors snapped a two-game skid with a 117-111 win over the Houston Rockets.

Jalen Green scored 27 points and Kevin Porter Jr. added 24 to lead the Houston Rockets to a 132-123 double-overtime victory over the Philadelphia 76ers as James Harden struggled through his return from injury.

Jalen Green scored 21 of his 30 points in the second half and the Houston Rockets overcame a 16-point deficit to stun the short-handed Phoenix Suns 122-121 on Friday night.

Jalen Green had 28 points and a career-high nine assists, Alperen Sengun added 21 points, a career-best 18 rebounds and seven assists, and the Houston Rockets beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 118-105.

Tyrese Haliburton had 19 points and the Indiana Pacers overcame a huge early deficit to beat the Houston Rockets 99-91 on Friday night.

Zion Williamson scored 26 points and Brandon Ingram iced the game with six points in a 13-0 run in the final 2:07 to power the New Orleans Pelicans to a 119-106 victory over the Houston Rockets on Saturday night.

Devin Booker scored 30 points, Cam Johnson added 19 and the Phoenix Suns won their fourth straight game by beating the Houston Rockets 124-109 on Sunday night.

Student test scores fell to levels not seen in two decades or more, particularly in math, according to data from the federal NAEP testing program, the most comprehensive national look at the impact of the pandemic on achievement to date.

Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 44 points and became Milwaukee’s career leader in successful free-throw attempts as the Bucks rolled to a 125-105 victory over the Houston Rockets on Saturday night.

Ja Morant scored 49 points and hit five 3-pointers to lead the Memphis Grizzlies to a 129-122 victory over the Houston Rockets on Friday night.

From the outside looking in, it’s hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel for a Houston Rockets team that finished with the NBA’s worst record for the past two seasons.

The Houston Rockets went 20-62 to finish with the NBA's worst record for the second straight season.

Anthony Edwards scored 33 points and Karl-Anthony Towns added 28 as the Minnesota Timberwolves built a huge lead and held on for a 139-132 win over the Houston Rockets.

Davion Mitchell, Damian Jones and Trey Lyles scored 24 points each, and the Sacramento Kings outlasted the Houston Rockets for a 121-118 win.

Dejounte Murray scored a career-high 33 points and the San Antonio Spurs held on for a 123-120 win over the Houston Rockets to inch closer to the final play-in spot in the Western Conference.

Alperen Sengun scored 27 points off the bench, Jalen Green had 25 points and the Houston Rockets defeated the Portland Trail Blazers 115-98 to complete a back-to-back sweep.

Christian Wood set career highs with eight 3-pointers and 39 points as the Houston Rockets used a huge late run to rally for a 115-97 win over the Washington Wizards.

Desmond Bane had 24 points and the Memphis Grizzlies overcame the absence of star Ja Morant with balanced scoring in a 122-98 victory over the NBA-worst Houston Rockets on Sunday.

Malcolm Brogdon scored 25 points and Goga Bitadze added 23, including two key baskets down the stretch, to help the Indiana Pacers beat the Houston Rockets 121-118 on Friday night.

Devin Booker scored 36 points,ikal Bridges added 26 and the NBA-leading Phoenix Suns beat the Houston Rockets 129-112 on Wednesday night for their third straight victory.

Rookie Jalen Green scored a career-high 32 points, including 10 in overtime, and the Houston Rockets outlasted the slumping Los Angeles Lakers for a 139-130 win Wednesday night.

Kevin Porter Jr. scored 29 points, Christian Wood added 28 points and 13 rebounds and the Houston Rockets beat the Memphis Grizzlies 123-112 on Saturday night to end a 12-game losing streak.

DeMarcus Cousins, starting in place of ailing Nikola Jokic, scored a season-high 31 points and the Denver Nuggets bounced back from a loss to beat the struggling Houston Rockets 116-101 on Friday night.

Donovan Mitchell had 37 points and Mike Conley scored nine points in overtime to help the Utah Jazz outlast the Houston Rockets 132-127.

Chuma Okeke scored a career-high 26 points to lead the Orlando Magic to a 119-111 win over the Houston Rockets in a game between the bottom teams in the NBA’s Eastern and Western Conferences.

Marcus Morris Sr. scored 27 points and Luke Kennard added 25 as the Los Angeles Clippers sped to a 17-point lead in the first half and cruised to a 142-111 victory over the Houston Rockets.

Devin Booker scored 24 points, Deandre Ayton added 23 and the NBA-leading Phoenix Suns extended their winning streak to seven games, rallying after Chris Paul was ejected to beat the Houston Rockets 124-121 on Wednesday night.

Donovan Mitchell scored 30 points.

Gary Trent Jr. scored a season-high 42 points, and the Toronto Raptors pushed their season-high winning streak to eight games with a 139-120 victory over the Houston Rockets.

Brandon Ingram scored 26 points and the New Orleans Pelicans defeated the Houston Rockets 110-97 on to extend their winning streak to four games.

Brandon Ingram scored 33 points and tied a career high with 12 assists as the New Orleans Pelicans used a big third quarter to take control of the game and get a 120-107 win over the Houston Rockets.

Keldon Johnson had 28 points and the San Antonio Spurs punctuated Zach Collins’ return from a nearly two-year absence with a 131-106 victory over the Houston Rockets on Friday night.

Stephen Curry scored 21 of his 40 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Golden State Warriors to a 122-108 win over the Houston Rockets Monday night.

Garrison Mathews scored 23 points, including five 3-pointers, to send the Houston Rockets to a 116-111 victory over the Utah Jazz.

Christian Wood had 23 points and 14 rebounds, Eric Gordon made a clutch bucket with 12.5 seconds remaining and the Houston Rockets held off the Sacramento Kings 118-112 on Sunday.

Eric Gordon had 31 points and the Houston Rockets overcame a career-high 32 from Dejounte Murray to beat the San Antonio Spurs 128-124, snapping a three-game skid.

Joel Embiid had 31 points and eight rebounds to lead the Philadelphia 76ers over the Houston Rockets 111-91 for their seventh straight win.

Karl-Anthony Towns scored a season-high 40 points, D’Angelo Russell added 22 points and 10 assists and the Minnesota Timberwolves won their fourth straight, beating the Houston Rockets 141-123.

Kevin Porter Jr. hit a 3-pointer from the right wing with 0.4 seconds left to give the Houston Rockets a 114-111 victory over the Washington Wizards on Wednesday night.

Joel Embiid had 31 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists in the Philadelphia 76ers’ 133-113 win over the Houston Rockets.

Nikola Jokic scored 24 points and Facundo Campazzo added a career-high 22 as the Denver Nuggets used a huge second quarter to take control in a 124-111 win over the Houston Rockets.

Terry Rozier scored 27 points and made seven 3-pointers, and the Charlotte Hornets routed the Houston Rockets 123-99 for their second straight win.

Myles Turner had 32 points and 10 rebounds, Caris LeVert had 24 points and 11 assists, and the Indiana Pacers beat the Houston Rockets 118-106.

Jrue Holiday scored 24 points, Khris Middleton added 23 in his return from injury and the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Houston Rockets 126-106 on Wednesday night to snap a two-game skid.

Christian Wood led a balanced attack with 21 points and eight rebounds as the Houston Rockets defeated the Detroit Pistons 116-107, handing the Pistons their 14th straight loss.

Darius Garland scored 21 points and Isaac Okoro added 20 as the Cleveland Cavaliers won their fifth straight game, a 124-89 rout of the Houston Rockets.

Eric Gordon scored 32 points, D.

The Houston Rockets won seven straight games after dropping 15 in a row, the first team in NBA history to have the lengthy slide and win streak in one season.

Dillon Brooks scored 25 points, Desmond Bane added 19 and the Memphis Grizzlies held on for a 113-106 victory over the Houston Rockets.

Giannis Antetokounmpo had 41 points and 17 rebounds, and the Milwaukee Bucks snapped the Houston Rockets’ seven-game winning streak with a 123-114 victory.

The Rockets fell to the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday as the season ended with a quiet but sickening thud. With franchise-shaping trades, unprecedented injury issues and a mixture of young, promising talent (nevermind a rookie season for both coach and GM), the Rockets enter the 2021 offseason after one of the most...

^ Keep Houston Press Free Support Us LocalCommunityJournalismI Support Support the independent voice of Houston and help keep the future of Houston Press free. Support UsDespite the season ending in the fall, it feels like a long time since the Rockets were on the floor for meaningful games. This year, outside the bubble and with a slightly shortened season, you would think stability would be the key to success. For the Rockets, much will be about who will still be on the team by the time this season is over. Three players — John Wall, Demarcus Cousins and David Nwaba — are all recovering from achilles injuries that sidelined them last season.

For players like Eric Gordon who have struggled with injuries this season, the layoff may have helped him get healthy. But even when the NBA does finally return to cavernous, empty stadiums how long do they need to get ready and how much playing will be done? The Rockets are at 64, it seems unlikely the league will finish out the full season. The Rockets are currently in the sixth seed but only one game out of the fourth seed and two-and-a-half from the third. At the moment, we just don't know when and how the NBA will get started again.

Facing an awful Knicks team, the Rockets got down early, made a run to come back, but fell short late. Related Stories Rockets vs Clippers: Scenes From The GamePlenty will be made by the national media that this a referendum on the Rockets small ball experiment. They remain fourth in the West, now two-and-a-half back of Utah and three-and-a-half back of the Clippers. But they are tied with Utah (the Rockets own the tiebreaker) and just one-and-a-half games up on Oklahoma City and two ahead of Dallas. The Western Conference is brutally tough and the Rockets can't afford to string together any more weeks like this one.

The Rockets playing "small ball" seems to be about the only thing people can talk about these days. Being tough is often equated with being big, but there are four Rockets players who have serious defensive tenacity minus the vertical size advantage. He also has a low center of gravity allowing him to hold strong against players much larger than him. For years in practice, he would let young players post him up to work on their game around the basket. He pushes players much larger off of their positions with regularity and has earned respect around the NBA.

Once again, the Rockets end the year with a game on New Year's Eve. What has become something of a tradition at Toyota Center, however, comes with a fairly significant challenge in the Denver Nuggets. It might have been an unexpected loss until Harden was scratched from the lineup. That is in addition to Harden and Westbrook, the team's best players. These are the dregs of the season when teams slog through the winter months before both the trade deadline and the All-Star break.

The Rockets have a stretch of fairly easy opponents and, at some point during that run, Eric Gordon could return. The NBA will most certainly have ruled on the team's protest of the last game the Rockets lost in San Antonio. Regardless, expect the Rockets to put together a better effort against the Spurs before heading to LA to face the Clippers on Thursday. Of course, the Clippers, currently, are a half game ahead of the Rockets, so that will be an important contest for both teams. As schedules go, this is about as good as it gets for the Rockets all season and somewhere in there Eric Gordon could return from this injury.

And Danuel House, Jr. has been great as a starter for the Rockets this year. But, Ben McLemore may usurp House's starter's job if for no other reason than he is simply better as a starter. On Thursday night in a win over the Raptors, McLemore had 28 points including a career high eight three pointers. While House deserves starters minutes, there is a good argument to be made for McLemore as a starter purely based on the numbers. House won the starting job in training camp, even besting Gordon, who had been the starter for the Rockets last year.

Houston Rockets' James Harden (13) goes up for a shot as LA Clippers' Ivica Zubac (40) defends during the second half of an NBA basketball game Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2019, in Houston. HOUSTON - James Harden scored 47 points and the Houston Rockets outlasted the Clippers 102-93 in a wild game that saw Los Angeles coach Doc Rivers ejected in the fourth quarter Wednesday night. Leonard led the Clippers with 26 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists and Lou Williams added 20 points off the bench. Capela has had at least 20 rebounds in three straight games to become the first Rocket to do that since Moses Malone in 1982. ... Green had 20 points.

But the combination of a very difficult next ten games and an injury to Eric Gordon threatens that early season success. On Tuesday, the team announced that Gordon would undergo a medical procedure on his knee and miss four to six weeks. Kawhi Leonard typically rests at least one game of a back-to-back set and the Rockets game is the first half of one such pairing. Given George should return Thursday, the Clips may opt to rest Leonard given the Rockets injury issues as well. Regardless, it is going to be tough sledding, particularly without Gordon, who is one of coach Mike D'Antoni's most trusted players.

KPRCCHICAGO - James Harden narrowly missed his first triple-double of the season, finishing with 42 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists as the Houston Rockets pulled away in the second half and beat the Chicago Bulls 117-94 on Saturday night. Harden entered the game averaging 36.5 points on 38.7% shooting, including 27% on 3-pointers. The Bulls led by nine points (31-22) early in the second before the Rockets used a 24-7 run to take control and open a 46-38 lead with four minutes left in the first half. That was the Bulls second make in 17 first-half attempts from long range. Harden led the way with 11 points in the quarter.

HOUSTON - The Houston Rockets have been among the best teams in the Western Conference for several seasons. Here the top 5 keys to a successful season for the Rockets. But two seasons ago, in his 2nd season with the Rockets, he averaged 18 points per game and made 54% of his two-point field goal attempts. That's the Gordon the Rockets needs this season on a nightly basis. Westbrook will enter the season after a pair of minor offseason surgeries and some trouble with jammed fingers late in the preseason.

Chinese state-run television network CCTV said it was suspending the current broadcast arrangements for the NBA's preseason games in China. Tencent, which owns the digital streaming rights for NBA in China, said it would also "temporarily suspend" the preseason broadcast arrangements. It follows a tweet made by Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey in which he showed support for the anti-government protests in Hong Kong. The tweet, which was later deleted, drew strong criticism in the world's second-largest economy. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver defended Morey.

Eric Gordon #10 of the Houston Rockets plays the Denver Nuggets at the Pepsi Center on November 13, 2018, in Denver, Colorado. HOUSTON - The Houston Rockets have signed guard Eric Gordon to a contract extension which runs through the 2023-24 season. In three seasons with Houston, Gordon has averaged 16.8 points, 2.4 rebounds and 2.2 assists while recording the sixth-most three-pointers made (680) of any player over that span. The Rockets have won 75% of the games in which Gordon has scored 20-plus points (52-17 mark). Over the past six seasons, Gordon was one of seven players to have averaged at least 2.5 three-pointers made while shooting 37% or better from behind-the-arc.

Eric Gordon #10 of the Houston Rockets plays the Denver Nuggets at the Pepsi Center on November 13, 2018, in Denver, Colorado. HOUSTON - Late Friday night, the Houston Rockets agreed to terms on a lucrative long-term extension with shooting guard Eric Gordon, according to multiple reports. The Houston Chronicle first reported the deal that will have Gordon under contract through the next five seasons per the terms of the four-year extension. Gordon has averaged 16.8 points per game in his three seasons in Houston while shooting 36.4% on three-pointers. Reportedly, Gordon will receive $19 million per season over the four years of the extension.

With just days before the opening of free agency, however, rumors are flying that the Rockets, in desperately hot pursuit of Sixers free agent forward and Tomball native Jimmy Butler, are ready to bet the farm if it means a shot at third star. He helped a surging Sixers team get just a bounce or two away from a birth in the Eastern Conference Finals. The problem is a complex set of math variables that basically makes a straight-up trade for Butler impossible for both teams. Gordon would be expendable given he plays a similar position to Butler, but Capela would leave a rather sizable hole in the front court where the Rockets are already short on length. Rockets owner Tillman Fertitta has been adamant that the team will surround Harden with the best possible players available.