The Houston Rockets (2-3) continued to struggle last night, dropping their third straight to Zach Randolph, Rudy Gay and the Memphis Grizzlies (4-1) 93-85 Friday in Memphis, Tenn.
Houston point guard Jeremy Lin had a better offensive showing with 15 points on 5-of-10 shooting and three assists, but Rockets superstar shooting guard James Harden, who has had rumblings of an MVP candidate season buzzing since averaging 41.0 points in his first two games, struggled from the field with 4-of-18 shooting to finish the night with 18 points.
Small forward Chandler Parsons led the Rockets with 19 points and center Omer Asik contributed a double-double of 10 points and 13 rebounds, but Memphis' defense in the second half created huge problems for Houston, which once again found themselves victimized by turnovers, giving up 20 for the night.
"We had 20 turnovers, and they had 18 offensive rebounds," Houston coach Kevin McHale told the Associated Press, as reported by ESPN. "That's too much. We have got to control that."
Gay led the Grizzlies with 21 points while Randolph provided a huge 15 points and 14 rebounds for Memphis, who improved to 2-0 at home.
After the game, Lin said that Houston had to work on their ball movement more.
"We think we are just not running," Lin said. "We are not running with urgency and speed. Some of it is on me, too, not getting back (when opponents) do run the ball. We just need to make a conscious effort as a team of getting everybody up the floor."
"We have to make it easier for each other - move, move, pass, pass," Lin further told the Houston Chronicle after the game.
Up next for the Rockets is a home game against the win-less 0-6 Detroit Pistons at the Toyota Center at 8 p.m. in Houston Saturday.
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