Rockets react as Christian Wood, Eric Gordon lead sixth straight win
Led by strong games from the veteran duo of Christian Wood (23 points, 8 rebounds, 2 blocks) and Eric Gordon (23 points, 5 assists), the Houston Rockets improbably won their sixth consecutive game with Sunday’s 118-108 victory (box score) over visiting New Orleans.
Garrison Mathews, Jae’Sean Tate, Daniel Theis, Alperen Sengun, KJ Martin, and DJ Augustin all chipped in with 9 or more points, leading a balanced effort on offense for the victorious home team at Toyota Center.
The Pelicans (7-19) were led by former All-Star Brandon Ingram, who scored a game-high 40 points. As for the mostly young Rockets (7-16), they continue to hold the NBA’s longest active winning streak, and it’s by far the most consecutive games that any NBA team has ever won immediately after a losing streak of 15 or more games.
According to @EliasSports the Rockets are the first team in NBA/NHL/MLB/NFL history to win 6 straight games immediately after a losing streak of 15+ games. pic.twitter.com/aJ9OF4Czqh
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) December 6, 2021
The competition will rise significantly for Houston in the coming days, with the Brooklyn Nets and reigning NBA champion Milwaukee Bucks set to come to town later this week. During the current six-game streak, four of the wins have come versus New Orleans, Oklahoma City, and Orlando, who are three of the only four NBA teams with worse records than Houston on the 2021-22 season to date. The short-term absence of the usual starting backcourt of Jalen Green (left hamstring strain) and Kevin Porter Jr. (left thigh contusion) doesn’t help matters, either.
But the Rockets will save those concerns for another day. For now, they will enter back-to-back off days with strong momentum and incredibly positive vibes from a six-game winning streak. See below for all the highlights and postgame reaction from Sunday night at Toyota Center.
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Stephen Silas
Credit to the Houston Rockets who are on a 6-0 game win streak
Happy for Silas
— ً (@BolWrld) December 6, 2021
Stephen Silas on the return of the 2-bigs lineup: “I thought it was necessary tonight cause of Valanciunas and his rebounding and his physicality, and having Theis out there helps with that. It was good. The minutes that they played, I think we were about even…" pic.twitter.com/kHpmcDBQtf
— Adam Spolane (@AdamSpolane) December 6, 2021
Christian Wood
Christian Wood over the past week: 22.3 points (49.0% FG, 55.6% on 3-pointers), 14.3 rebounds, 2.0 blocks, only 1.3 turnovers. #Rockets are 3-0 over that span and have the NBA's longest winning streak (6) overall.
Western Conference Player of the Week, perhaps?
— Ben DuBose (@BenDuBose) December 6, 2021
C-Wood is 4-4 from behind the arc tonight! 💦 pic.twitter.com/c1Abdi63f0
— Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) December 6, 2021
Eric Gordon
EG and C-Wood combined for 46PTS. 🚀@creditkarma | #MoneyMoveoftheGame pic.twitter.com/TUhQ12QxaV
— Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) December 6, 2021
EG is 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 it 🔥 pic.twitter.com/jHZHmtYIqo
— Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) December 6, 2021
KJ Martin's epic dunk
KJ Martin with the rim-rocking putback!@HoustonRockets seeking 6 straight wins…they lead in the 4th quarter on League Pass.
Watch: https://t.co/5QqkBhf1W0 pic.twitter.com/pes4sRIRBK
— NBA (@NBA) December 6, 2021
KJ MARTIN ARE YOU KIDDING ME
— Cayleigh Griffin (@cayleighgriffin) December 6, 2021
KJ MARTIN WOW pic.twitter.com/sVxje2Da6I
— arxn (@arxanii) December 6, 2021
KJ MARTIN COMMITTED A WAR CRIME
— Apollo Launch Pad (@ApolloLaunchPad) December 6, 2021
KJ Martin makes things happen
— Royden Ogletree (@roydenogletree) December 6, 2021
.@kj__martin with the put-back slam and the #Rockets bench goes nuts. pic.twitter.com/5SPYZA4PKo
— Mark Berman (@MarkBermanFox26) December 6, 2021
KJ Martin is going to have a 30-point game with just put-back dunks and layups one day.
— Salman Ali (@SalmanAliNBA) December 6, 2021
still thinking about that KJ slam 😳 pic.twitter.com/SqyGZpHXaS
— Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) December 6, 2021
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