Rockets endure painful setback

There won’t be team meetings to follow this time. Yao Ming and Chuck Hayes will not have to give motivational speeches. And it is no disgrace for this season’s Rockets to lose another home game to the Philadelphia 76ers.

But one way or another, the annual loss to the Sixers found a way to be as frustrating as the ones that preceded it. This time, the Rockets left kicking themselves for the way they fell apart in the second half as the Sixers went from a 13-point deficit to a 102-95 win Saturday night, their third consecutive win at Toyota Center.

The Rockets made just 14 of 43 shots in the second half, bogging down as the Sixers fronted Carl Landry in the post and trapped Aaron Brooks on screens. But as much as the Rockets lamented the shots missed from the rim to the 3-point arc — Brooks scored 34 points; the rest of the starters made a combined 11 of 34 shots for 27 points — that was not the worst part.

Guard Kyle Lowry, who had keyed the first-half turnaround and 18-0 run, left on crutches with a sprained left ankle that will keep him out of Tuesday’s game in Miami. Trevor Ariza left in uniform, with a hip pointer too painful for him to change clothes. And the Rockets left battered by another home loss to the 76ers they believed should not have been.

“We played them six times the last three years, and every game, the same thing happens,” forward Luis Scola said. “They just get a run, they get it going, and you can’t stop them. I guess we didn’t learn from our mistakes.”

Whether they let up after building their lead or let down after watching Lowry get carried off the floor, the Rockets saw their offense crash in the second half with the defense soon to follow.

They had taken control of the game when Lowry drove them through the second-quarter rally. Lowry had 12 points in 15 first-half minutes, beginning and finishing a 26-4 surge with strong drives to tough three-point plays. Brooks had 17 in the second quarter. The Rockets led by 10 at halftime and 11 after Lowry sprained his ankle, limping back to the floor to make his free throws before he was helped off.

Missing ingredient

“When he went out, it put a lot of pressure on everybody to step up,” Brooks said. “That was our energy guy to come off the bench. When he went out, it was a little bit of a letdown.

“The difference between this game and the last game was when we got up 10, we put Memphis away. This time, we let them hang around the whole time. When you do that, teams get hot and start hitting 3s and finally start feeling good about themselves and run away with it.”

Second-half collapse

Against Memphis, the Rockets’ depth took over. In the second half against Philadelphia, Chase Budinger could not make shots, Landry could not get shots (he had four points in the second half) and Lowry was in the locker room.

“We had about four or five possessions where we had it at the basket and we didn’t finish plays,” coach Rick Adelman said. “We can’t just rely on Aaron; we have got to have other people stepping up and making plays.”

When Shane Battier finally hit a 3, the game was tied with 5½ minutes left. The Rockets made just two of 11 shots the rest of the way.

“It is frustrating,” Scola said. “I believe everybody here is aware of that and wants to fix it. For some reason, we don’t know how.”