体坛英语新闻：Rockets fall to Thunder with low second-half

HOUSTON, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- The Houston Rockets fell to the Oklahoma City Thunder 92-104 Thursday night at Toyota center due to an incredibly poor performance in the second half.

The Rockets dominated the first half and grabbed a season-high 73 points, making 56.5 percent of the shots. But in the second half, the team turned into a different team which was unable to score and unable to defend, gaining only 19 points in the whole half.

The huge disparity between the first and second half reportedly was the greatest in NBA history. And the inglorious defeat, to many, seemed also incredible as the team appeared to be on the upper hand in every way in the first half.

The Thunder opened the game with a 13-4 run and maintained a lead of four points at the end of the first quarter. The Rockets came alive in the second quarter, outscoring the guest team by 18 points in that quarter and enjoying an easy lead of 14 points by half time.

But things changed dramatically in the third quarter. The Rockets couldn't score. And even worse, they didn't know how to adjust to the adversity. The terrible performance in the final quarter finally drove them into the abyss of shameful loss.

James Harden and Terrence Jones scored 16 points each for Houston, though Harden had none in the second half. Chandler Parsons chipped in 14 points, Dwight Howard had 11 points while Jeremy Lin only scored 6 points. Kevin Durant scored 36 points and Reggie Jackson added 23 for the Thunder.

The Rockets is now 26-15 on the season and the Thunder is 29-10.