The Houston Rockets were largely pleased with their defensive effort against MVP candidate Luka Doncic in Monday night's 116-111 loss at the Toyota Center, a curious stance considering Doncic poured in 39 points and once again flirted with a triple-double. Yet look past the gaudy scoring mark, and maybe Rockets coach Stephen Silas and Co. have a fair point. Doncic's scoring barrages are almost guaranteed at this point. Forcing him to score at an inefficient clip is now the new directive.
Houston performed relatively well by that standard as Doncic finished Monday night just 10 of 26 from the floor and an ugly 1 of 9 from three.