火箭不敌森林狼一役：申京三双与谢泼德替补得分两大亮点，22次失误成隐患

Taking a look at two good things and one bad thing to take away from the Houston Rockets' loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night.

The Houston Rockets were looking to stay unbeaten at home on Wednesday night against the Minnesota Timberwolves, however, the Timberwolves had other plans as they defeated the Rockets 117-107 and handed Houston their first home loss of the season.

Following the loss, let's take a look at two good things and one bad thing that can be taken away for the Rockets moving forward.

While the Rockets did lose this game, there were some good things that happened in this game including the fact that center Alperen Sengun recorded the 13th Triple Double of his career.

In this game, Sengun totaled 17 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists, and three blocks which showcased his ability to excel in a variety of ways. At the center position, Sengun has become very skilled and is arguably one of the more talented big men in the NBA right now and on Wednesday night he put that on full display.

So, as Sengun progresses through this season, if he can continue to demonstrate his versatile skill set, especially on the offensive side, he could very well prove that he is not just one of the more skilled centers in the league, but instead that he has the argument to be the most skilled, especially because of the team success that Houston has had to start the year.

Another good thing that happened in this game was the fact that guard Reed Sheppard was able to lead the Rockets in scoring off the bench.

During Wednesday's game against the Timberwolves, Sheppard tallied 14 points while shooting 5-for-12 from the field, 3-for-8 from beyond the arc, and 1-for-1 from the free-throw line. Looking at Sheppard's shooting splits he was able to be decently efficient, but he also showed the willingness to take shots, which is exactly what Houston needs in a scorer off the bench.

With that in mind, if Sheppard can continue to stay aggressive and find success as a bench scorer, he could end up being one of the Rockets more reliable scorers on this team as a whole which could make a major difference throughout the regular season and into the postseason for Houston.

Now getting to the bad thing that happened on Wednesday, it was that as a team, the Rockets had 22 turnovers.

As mentioned, Houston totaled 22 turnovers as a team against Minnesota, but what was more impactful than that was the fact that they allowed 33 points off turnovers which came back to bite them in this game.

The frustrating part about this is that most of the turnovers came from the starters: veterans Kevin Durant, Fred VanVleet, and Sengun each had four, Amen Thompson had three, and Jabari Smith Jr. had one. The starters have to set the tone, and unfortunately they were not able to do that against Minnesota, which cost them in the end.

Moving forward, the Rockets have to take much better care of the ball, otherwise this could be a real issue and cost this team crucial games over the course of this season, which could really impact what the ceiling of this team is when the 2026 season comes to a close.

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