Sixers stun Rockets with fourth-quarter comeback

Philadelphia 111, Houston 107

Damien Pierce
Rockets.com Staff Writer
HOUSTON -- Before taking questions in his postgame press conference, Rick Adelman didn't waste any time offering his review of the game.

He thought the explanation for what went wrong was fairly obvious.

"When you don't take care of the ball and they beat us to the basket time after time in the fourth quarter, it's going to be hard to win," Adelman said. "It's really disappointing that we just shot ourselves in the foot."

Who could argue?

Behind a slew of turnovers and defensive breakdowns in the fourth quarter, the Rockets suffered a stunning 111-107 setback to the struggling Philadelphia 76ers Tuesday night at Toyota Center.

The Rockets (20-19) couldn't hang on to a 16-point advantage in the second half as they blew a fourth-quarter lead for the second straight time at home.

Nothing went right in the fourth quarter. The Rockets turned the ball over nine times. They shot a horrendous 28.6 percent. And worse, they did little to prevent Philadelphia from racing down the floor after a turnover, allowing the Sixers to score 12 fast-break points in the fourth.

By the time it was over, the Sixers had scored a whopping 37 points in the final period -- 14 off turnovers -- to stage the second largest comeback against Houston this season.

"We let up as we usually do," Rockets point guard Rafer Alston said. "We stopped doing the things that got us the lead -- defending, rebounding, going down into our sets, swinging the ball and sharing the basketball. It was a total let up."

The Rockets appeared to be heading to a much-needed win after Sunday's disappointing setback to New Orleans.

Behind one of their better shooting efforts of the season through three quarters, the Rockets rolled into the fourth with a 85-74 advantage. Yao Ming, who didn't miss a shot until the fourth quarter, scored 13 of his 25 points in the third to help Houston extend its lead to double digits.

But it didn't hold up long. Philadelphia opened the final period with a surprising 19-3 spurt that allowed the Sixers to grab a 96-92 lead with just over six minutes remaining. The Rockets had five turnovers over the run -- most on entry passes into Yao.

Despite having time to recover, the Rockets never did. Instead, they continued to miss shots and give the ball away. Alston, who had six turnovers, nailed a three-pointer with 50.4 seconds left that cut Phladelphia's lead to 105-104. But on the ensuing possesion, Samuel Dalembert slammed an alley-oop pass from Andre Iguodala.

Houston had a couple more chances. Yao missed a short hook shot, but Luis Scola came up with the offensive rebound. The Rockets rookie turned to pass the ball out, but after failing to find someone, he turned back towards the bucket. He ended up being rejected by Dalembert to end Houston's chances.

"It was just a bad game," said Rockets guard Luther Head, who had 16 points. "It was a game we definitely should have won. It was a game we definitely felt comfortable with. In the second half, we came out sluggish and they came out with a nice tempo. They were pushing the ball with a small lineup, pushing the ball and getting layups. We were just awful in transition in the second half. There were a lot of things that caused the loss, but we can't play like that."

The agonizing ending left the Rockets with a two-game losing skid in the middle of what was supposed to be a momentum-building five-game homestand.

But what's more troubling is that Houston continues to lose ground in the Western Conference playoff race. The Rockets are once again three games behind eighth-seeded Golden State with the defending champion San Antonio Spurs rolling into town on Saturday night.

"We haven't played well," Rockets forward Shane Battier said. "We haven't played well enough to be upset at ourselves. Everyone talks about potential. Well, the season is halfway over. Potential is over. We need to play basketball. We need to play well. If we don't, it's going to be a long second half to the season."