The Rockets Just Endured One of the Worst Shooting Nights in Franchise History

The Houston Rockets traveled to take on the Denver Nuggets in an important matchup as the regular season winds down, with the Rockets having 18 games left before the playoffs. The game's outcome would impact the Rockets’ playoff positioning: a loss would mean dropping the season series to the Nuggets, who were currently sitting in the sixth seed—a key spot in the playoff seeding.

The Rockets have had an up-and-down season when it comes to three-point shooting. The Rockets started the season as the league's surprise offensive team.

The Rockets led the NBA in offensive rating for most of the first two months of the season, and a big reason was their hot shooting from 3-point range. The Rockets, to many people's surprise, led the NBA in 3-point percentage after ranking in the bottom ten in 3-point shooting the previous season.

Several players started the season shooting their best percentage from downtown in their careers up until that point. Tari Eason, Jabari Smith, Josh Okogie, and Reed Sheppard all started off the season on fire from beyond the arc.

Since that hot start to the season, the Rockets' shooting has come crashing back to earth. Since the calendar flipped to 2026, the Rockets have gone from one of the best teams from 3-point range, albeit on low volume, to a bottom-five 3-point shooting team for the last three months.

That was unfortunately the case for the Rockets in Wednesday night's blowout loss to the Nuggets, as they suffered not only one of their worst shooting performances of the season but also their worst defeat of the season, losing 129-93.

There were many reasons for the loss, from too many live-ball turnovers to poor defensive rotations, but the main reason was the Rockets' worst shooting performance from beyond the arc in franchise history.

The Rockets Suffered One of Their Worst 3-Point Shooting Games in Franchise History

The Rockets were playing their second game of a back-to-back, and facing the Nuggets in Denver is not ideal for any team.

That may explain what happened to the Rockets during the game. After hanging around for two quarters, the Nuggets put the game away in the third quarter. The Rockets had struggled all game from 3-point range, and it finally caught up to them in the second half.

The Rockets made only two 3-pointers in the first half, and it didn't get much better in the second half. To compound the problems the Rockets were already having, they were only 1-6 in the first half from the free-throw line.

The Rockets finished 4-33 from the 3-point line, which is their fourth-worst single-game percentage in franchise history. To put it in perspective, the Rockets, in their infamous 27-3-pointers-in-a-row in the 2018 Western Conference Finals game, still shot a better percentage than they did in the loss to the Nuggets.

The loss dropped the Rockets back to the fourth spot in the Western Conference and was the Rockets' second straight blowout loss to a top team in the conference. The Rockets dont have time to hang their heads and complain about Wednesday's loss, as they are back in action Friday, hosting an improved New Orleans Pelicans team.