The Houston Rockets Have Found Every Way Possible to Lose Games This Season

The 2025-26 Houston Rockets have been one of the most unique teams in recent Rockets history. They traded for one of the best players in NBA history during the offseason, bringing in Kevin Durant to hopefully get them over the hump after a disappointing first-round loss to the Golden State Warriors.

The Rockets then went from the high of a blockbuster trade to the lows of a major injury. The Rockets found out that Fred VanVleet, their on-and-off-court leader, had suffered a potential season ending injury right before the start of training camp.

That injury was a devastating blow to a team hoping to win a championship, leaving it scrambling to fill the void left by VanVleet's absence. The Rockets have been scrambling ever since.

The Rockets started the season against the defending NBA champion, and despite a great effort, they came up short as the Thunder made all the plays in clutch time, while the Rockets didn't make enough. That would be a running theme for the season.

The Rockets' inability to handle pressure, especially in close situations late in games, has been a problem all season. They have blown multiple leads and not just a few points; they have lost games where they were up 25 points at the time.

That was the team at the time with the worst record in the Western Conference, the New Orleans Pelicans, who had a double-digit fourth-quarter lead over the tanking Sacramento Kings, and too many other blown leads to mention.

Recently, it has been even worse, as the Rockets have lost to a Golden State Warriors team missing Steph Curry. Though the losses to the Denver Nuggets and San Antonio Spurs were not clutch-time losses, they still stung just as much because the Rockets were dominated by teams they are fighting for homecourt in the conference.

When you think the Rockets have found every possible way to lose this season, they somehow find a way to lose in a fashion that has not been done in recorded NBA history.

The Houston Rockets' Overtime Collapse in their Loss to the Timberwolves Made History

The Rockets entered their game against the Timberwolves knowing it was the biggest game of the season. They trailed the Wolves by a half-game, and after losses to the Lakers and Nuggets in the last few weeks, this was their opportunity to win at least one season series against one of the top six teams in the conference.

The Rockets, as they have many times this season, struggled from 3-point range, and that was the main reason a team without Anthony Edwards was able to stay in the game and lead for much of the second half.

The Rockets were able to fight back and, for once, be the team on the other side of a fourth-quarter collapse, coming back from double digits down to force overtime. They were able to come back because Alperen Sengun had one of his best stretches on both sides of the court late in the fourth quarter and almost single-handedly brought the Rockets back.

Overtime looked even better as the Rockets scored the first 13 points and seemed on their way to a huge road win with under three minutes left in the game.

That is when the Rockets somehow topped their previous late-game collapses and watched the Wolves make it a game late, only to take the lead after trailing by double digits with barely any time left on the clock.

The Rockets had another chance to avoid disaster, but Kevin Durant missed the first of two free throws that could have sent it to another overtime, and the Rockets turned it over with a chance to win or at least tie the game.

The loss was bad enough, but the Rockets managed to set an NBA record in the process. According to Keerthika Uthayakumar the Timberwolves are the first team in the play-by-play era to win a game after trailing by double digits in overtime.

NBA teams were 0-180 when down by 10 or more points in overtime over the last 29 seasons. They are now 1-180.

Wolves came back from down 13 in overtime, the largest OT comeback win in the play-by-play era.
— Keerthika Uthayakumar (@keerthikau) March 26, 2026

To put it in perspective, teams were 0-180 before the Rockets' collapse on Wednesday. That is an elite level of losing that only this season's Rockets team could accomplish.

The loss puts the Rockets further back in the Western Conference playoff picture as they stay in the sixth seed and are dangerously close to starting the playoffs on the road.

The Rockets try to shake off another late-game collapse as they are back in action Friday against the Memphis Grizzlies.