The Houston Rockets are trying to climb back into the Western Conference contention rankings after suffering some ugly defeats. The team has been playing with a lack of consistency causing headaches for interim head coach JB Bickerstaff. With the Rockets getting a key win against San Antonio and then suffering a bad loss to New Orleans, the team is aiming to get back on track against the Atlanta Hawks.
Things were looking good for the Rockets after they defeated the Spurs 88-84 on Christmas Day. Hope was high after they held the team to one of their lowest outputs all year. However, that optimism fell when the team was defeated 110-108 by the New Orleans Pelicans as the Rockets were outscored 16-5 in the final eight minutes. Now sitting at .500 on the year, the Rockets are in need of bouncing back yet again.
The Rockets have fallen lately to teams with losing records as players like James Harden have struggled. The star shot 35.7 percent from the floor over the past two games as the offense has failed to make up for his lack of production. Everyone from Dwight Howard to Ty Lawson have expressed their frustration as the coaching staff believes they simply need to fix core issues.
We have to solve our core issues," Bickerstaff said, via ESPN.com. "There's a reason why this team is so up and down. We come out here tonight, things aren't easy, things don't go our way and we turn into the ugly Rockets. It's frustrating for me. It's frustrating for all of us."
The Rockets have a chance to beat an Atlanta team coming off a loss to the Indiana Pacers which broke a six-game win streak. Prior to the loss the team was averaging 111.5 points on 51.2 percent shooting, but they went just 6 of 25 from long range against the Pacers while turning the ball over 22 times. That simply will not get it done as they were outscored 31-13. The Hawks managed to close the deficit in the second half, but it was not enough to win. The team has won their last three matchups to the Rockets and they hope to keep the win streak going on Tuesday night.