The Houston Rockets are having a slow start in the 2018-19 NBA season, but they have extended a “winning streak” on Thursday. The Rockets have now won 12 consecutive games officiated by Ben Taylor.
The Rockets scored a commanding 126-111 victory over the LeBron James-led Los Angeles Lakers at the Toyota Center in Houston. James Harden led the way for the Rockets, as he finished with 50 points on top of 11 assists and 10 rebounds. The superstar guard now has the most 50-point triple-double games in NBA history with four.
While Harden had a historic night, Reddit user Landry Groans cast doubts on Houston’s victory. He cited several tweets from NBARefStats, suggesting that the Rockets benefited from another Taylor-officiated game.
Groans pointed out that the Rockets have now won their last 12 games where Taylor was selected as one of the three officials. He also added that Taylor called 11 fouls on the Lakers on Thursday night compared to just five for the Rockets.
Referees James Capers and Nick Buchert had a combined 13 fouls called for Los Angeles and 16 for Houston. But on the flip side, it is also worth noting that the difference in free-throw attempts is not too glaring. Houston had 32, while Los Angeles took 27. The Lakers converted just 15 attempts, while the Rockets knocked down 27 shots from the line.
— NBA Ref Stats (@NBARefStats) December 14, 2018
With their second-straight win, the Rockets improved to 13-14 after a surprising 1-5 start this season. On the other hand, the Lakers dropped 17-11 but are still the fifth-ranked team in the stacked Western Conference standings.
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