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OKLAHOMA CITY – As Carmelo Anthony was retreating, looking for and hoping for something that would work when he returned to Oklahoma City, he had accomplished something.
He fully captured the frustrations and offensive failures of his current team, which had been swept away by part of his previous team.
Anthony was far from the only Rockets problem on Thursday night. There were problems no matter where they turned, especially on the offensive side where their recession continued.
But there was no better understanding of how far the Rockets were from Oklahoma City on the way to the Thunder's 98-80 defeat as the Rockets slumped into the top NBA offensive teams.
"Our attack is anemic," said Rockets coach Mike D'Antoni. "I mean, it's bad. I think sometimes we think we have to exclude the other team. We can not. We held everyone under 100 years old. "
The Rockets allowed 97.8 points per game in the first four road trips, placing second in the NBA in this segment. But they never managed to give themselves a chance to give themselves a chance against the Thunder, their energy and coolness seeming diminishing with each jumper in brick.
"We start the match and a couple, three missing assists and shots on goal," D'Antoni said. "It adds up. We must begin to impose our will and to have our courage. This is largely mental energy. "
While the Thunder were playing without Russell Westbrook and in the second consecutive game, the Rockets failed, shooting only 37.8% of their shots, just 11 of 42 3 points.
Anthony only managed one of his 11 shots, missing his six of his 3 points and never seeing the ball enter the basket, his only goal scored on a Nerlens Noel goalkeeper. He played just 20 minutes, D'Antoni limiting him to three in the fourth quarter, as if to preserve him from any further embarrassment.
"I missed them," said Anthony when asked what look he had. "At the end of the day, I missed them. I missed those looks, some open shots. As a team, we did not shoot well, extremely poor. I think that touched us a bit. Our energy, our mind was down because of that. "
He was far from alone. Anthony, Chris Paul and Gerald Green were scoreless in the first half, an even bigger problem with Eric Gordon missing a third consecutive game with a forced adductor.
Paul made four of 11 shots to score his 10 points, but for a fifth consecutive game, his right elbow was wrapped up after the match. He gave up the sleeve he wore in the first half and scored on his first two shots in the second half, but said that he had only made the change to "change Something".
When asked again what was wrong with his elbow, Paul replied, "Everything will be fine."
Asked more specifically about what is wrong, if he has an elbow, Paul replied, "I do not know. We will find out. I'm fine. It does not matter. We won thanks to her. "
This brief winning streak since he started tackling the elbow after games, including his 32-point match in Brooklyn. He has not scored in the first half of the three games since, but does not pick on his elbow.
He said, however, that his own game was part of the offensive problems of the Rockets and a potential solution.
"It may be partly because I'm not doing my shots," said Paul. "It would probably help. You see some of them go by and do not put as much pressure on Tuck (P.J. Tucker) and James (Harden) to shoot. We must shoot and I think we must let our defense create our attack. "
The Rockets defense, however, did just about everything that could be expected.
The thunder made 44.4% of his shots, but only 9 out of 37 on 3. Paul George led the Thunder with 20 points but was only 7 out of 21.
"It will be all right," said Harden, who had 19 points with eight assists, but 7 of 19 overall. "We will be good. Defensively, I think we are very good. We simply can not do it offensively.
"Whether it's our shots, our pace or our spirit, we just have to have that positive spirit to go out there.
"We are not worried."
Neither were they narrow, each fault seeming to recall how much their offense had fallen.
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