Kevin Durant isn’t too worried about the Houston Rockets’ 111-91 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday night, as he believes that it simply wasn’t their night. The one-time league MVP had 19 points, seven rebounds, three assists, and three steals on 7-for-23 shooting from the field in 37 minutes.
To Durant’s point, the Houston Rockets were sloppy shooting the basketball, going 35-for-104 from the field and 7-for-24 from three-point range. The only bright spot was their rebounding, where they had a 60-44 advantage.
“If we had won this game, do we celebrate it? So we try to look at it that way,” Durant told the Houston Chronicle. “Obviously, this is a great test to see where we are, but that’s only a talking point if we lose. We don’t want to take it too serious. If we won this game tonight… Like (Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander) said, they lost a couple to the Spurs, and they won the last game, but it’s not their Super Bowl. It’s good to see who you are against a team, but we don’t want to hang our hats too much on wins this early or losses this early. We’re just gonna keep grinding.”
“I love our intent, I love the energy and focus that we play with, regardless of us making shots, we still play defense,” he continued. “Coaches still locked in, players are still locked in, but sometimes you can’t overcome shooting that bad.”
Houston Rockets News: Ime Udoka sends clear message to the team after losing to the Oklahoma City Thunder
Ime Udoka doubled down on Kevin Durant’s take of not panicking after a blowout loss. However, during his postgame press conference, the Houston Rockets head coach emphasized the importance of locking in, regardless of the record.
“Every game matters for us, and we haven’t been playing our best,” Udoka said. “Regardless of record or whatever, we need to continue to focus on what we’re doing. We didn’t handle their physicality defensively on the offensive end for us pretty much all night.”
The Houston Rockets are in the midst of a slump, as they’ve lost five of their last seven contests. They will try to bounce back when they host the Anthony Edwards-less Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday.
