The Houston Rockets appeared ready to roll to their eighth straight win Thursday night before they fell into some old, bad habits.<\/p>\n
But just when it looked like his team might blow a 25-point fourth-quarter advantage, Kevin Durant stepped up and knocked down a couple of pressure 3s to lift the Rockets to a 113-102 win over the Philadelphia 76ers at Toyota Center.<\/p>\n
Not only was it\u00a0the team’s eighth straight win, but it was the sixth in that stretch decided by double figures. It also allowed the Rockets (51-29) to keep pace with the Los Angeles Lakers, who have the same record after beating the Warriors on Thursday night, for the Western Conference’s fourth seed, which will come with home-court advantage in the playoffs.<\/p>\n
Still, after watching a 99-74 lead almost disappear thanks to a 20-2 Philadelphia run in which the Rockets turned the ball over seven times, Ime Udoka was in no mood to celebrate Durant’s big shots or the one Aaron Holiday hit that also helped stem the tide.<\/p>\n
“It\u2019s big (to have\u00a0Durant in those spots),” the Rockets coach\u00a0said. “He made two and Aaron made one, but you\u2019ve got to have some poise and get into our sets, handle pressure and not be reliant on that to bail you out of the game when you have a big lead. It\u2019s great that we have guys that can do that, him being obviously one of our closers, but we shouldn\u2019t even get to that point, honestly.<\/p>\n
When the 76ers cut the deficit to 101-94, Durant hit a 3, followed by another from Holiday to push the lead back to double digits with four minutes remaining.\u00a0Philadelphia got with five in the final two minutes, but\u00a0Durant hit another 3 to push the lead to 110-102 with 1:15 left.<\/p>\n
The difference in pre-meltdown Rockets and meltdown Rockets was obvious: Turnovers. Houston had just five turnovers in the first three quarters and then handed it over nine times in the final period.<\/p>\n
“They pressured and we didn’t have any poise,” Udoka said.<\/p>\n
Still, the Rockets survived thanks to a big night from Durant, who finished with 29 points, while Amen Thompson and Jabari Smith Jr., had 19 each. Tari Eason came up big off the bench, scoring 15 points in 26\u00a0minutes. Josh Okogie, drawing a start instead of Reed Sheppard, nearly had a double-double, getting 9 points and 10 rebounds in 21 minutes.<\/p>\n
It was enough to keep the Rockets in the hunt for that coveted No. 4 seed, although it will have to pass the Lakers, who own the tiebreaker over Houston. The Lakers finish their season against the Suns on Friday and Jazz on Sunday. The Rockets close with the Timberwolves and Grizzlies.<\/p>\n