Rockets Explain Reason Behind Game 1 Loss

The Houston Rockets had a few things go wrong in their loss to the Golden State Warriors.

Houston Rockets forward Jabari Smith Jr. drives with the ball as Golden State Warriors forward Gui Santos defends. | Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

The Houston Rockets are already in a hole down 1-0 in their series against the Golden State Warriors after falling in the opener.

The Rockets shot under 40 percent from the field and just over 20 percent from beyond the 3-point line, but still managed to be in the game for the most part, trailing by just four points with less than three minutes to go.

Jabari Smith Jr., who scored 11 points off the bench, spoke to The Athletic insider Kelly Iko after the game about the team's loss.

“I don’t think necessarily it was just a bad shooting night,” Smith Jr. said via Iko.

“That had something to do with it, but we got to work hard and generate better looks. Our spacing was a little thrown off tonight. They were crowding the paint a lot on us, and we just got to figure out (how) to counteract that. Watch film and figure out ways to go about that. They were packing the paint trapping Jalen and Fred, funneling everything, trying to make us make the extra pass and we weren’t making it tonight. Everybody, me, turning the ball over.”

The Rockets have a lot to fix by the time Game 2 rolls around, and the team needs to be able to adjust because going down 2-0 heading on the road for a pair of games could spell disaster for Houston.

Tipoff for Game 2 is set for Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. CT from inside the Toyota Center.