Sixers go down for fifth straight loss

HOUSTON - After their great start to the season, this is not the way the 76ers envisioned themselves going into the all-star break.

Scoring has become laborious. Free throws, when they actually are rewarded with them, have not gone down easily.

And then on Wednesday night, it was their defense in the fourth quarter, something that has been there all season when all else has failed, that contributed to their 93-87 loss to the Houston Rockets at the Toyota Center in front of 12,820.

The defeat leaves the Sixers (20-14) entering the break with five losses in a row, their longest losing streak since they lost five straight in November 2010. They go into the break as a team that has not scored 100 points since tallying 103 against Washington on Jan. 25.

"That's something that we have to correct soon," said Thaddeus Young. "That has to change."

They don't play again until Tuesday, when they visit Detroit. That will begin a stretch that won't be nearly as kind to them as the first half of the season, which was heavily weighted with home games. Coming out of the break the Sixers will play 18 of their remaining 32 games on the road. And when they are jostling for playoff seeding at the end, the Sixers will play nine of their last 11 on the road.

"We've got to get healthy and we've got to get mentally refreshed," Sixers coach Doug Collins said. "The schedule is not going to get any easier. We have to get ourselves back playing. We had every opportunity to win this game - and that's not taking anything away from the Rockets - but once they got it going there we couldn't get them stopped."

Trailing for most of the game, the Sixers spread a 25-9 run over the third and fourth quarters to go up 71-65 when Andre Iguodala (11 points) scored on a driving lay-up with 9 minutes, 42 seconds to play in the game.

That turned the game into a nip-and-tuck affair the rest of the way, but in the end it was the Rockets who made the crucial plays and big shots to decide the outcome.

Villanova product Kyle Lowry (13 points, eight rebounds, five assists) drove the lane for a tough bucket and converted a three-point play when he was fouled by Young with 59 seconds left, giving the Rockets (20-14) an 89-85 lead and forcing the Sixers to call timeout.

When play resumed, the Sixers' Lou Williams lost control of the ball and committed a turnover out of bounds with 52.2 seconds left. Iguodala fouled Kevin Martin - who scored 14 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter - with 23.5 seconds remaining and Martin's two free throws extended the Rockets' lead to 91-85.

The Sixers did not hit another field goal the rest of the game.

Five Sixers scored in double figures, led by Nik Vucevic's team-high 18. Williams finished with 17 points, and Young added 15.

Foul problems plagued point guard Jrue Holiday. He picked up his third foul in the second quarter and a fourth early in the third that limited him to just 22 minutes.

"That one was stupid," Holiday said of his third, a clear-path foul that forced him to sit for most of the second quarter. "I can't make mistakes like that. It hurt our team tonight."

Luis Scola led six Rockets in double figures with 19 points. Scola also finished with 10 rebounds.

Wednesday's game ended too late for this edition. For coverage, go to philly.com/sixers.EndText