HOUSTON – The diagnosis for what went wrong in Sunday’s loss was remarkably easy to pinpoint. New Orleans approached a season high by committing 23 turnovers, leading to 29 Houston points. Despite holding a lead for long stretches of the Southwest Division matchup, the Pelicans couldn’t overcome those miscues, seeing their three-game winning streak come to an end.
Neither team held a lead of more than nine points on the scoreboard all afternoon, but Houston held the upper hand in the final minutes of the fourth quarter, winning the season series vs. New Orleans 3-1. The Pelicans dominated the Rockets in the rebounding category 63-43, but it was a much more even fight in the fourth period, where Houston turned a one-point deficit into an eight-point victory.