The Rockets narrowly defeated the Magic! Uduka took the initiative to change the lineup: rotating 9 players into 8 players, and the veteran shooter scored 10 points.

On November 17, the Rockets’ opponent was the Eastern Conference powerhouse Orlando Magic. The Rockets played at home and narrowly defeated their opponents in overtime, with a score of 117:113. The Rockets were basically passive throughout the game. They only took a slight lead in the fourth quarter, but were still chased into overtime by the Magic. In overtime, with the performance of Shen Jing and especially Durant, the Rockets narrowly defeated their opponents by 4 points, won a precious four consecutive victories, and continued to rank third in the Western Conference.

The Lakers defeated the Bucks the day before, posing a huge threat to the Rockets, but now that the Rockets have won this key victory, they have widened the gap with the Lakers. Although the Rockets have many away games in the future, and will face the powerful Cavaliers in the next game, with four consecutive wins in hand, the overall strength of the Rockets is evident, and they have now become one of the best performing teams in the league.

However, injuries have also been affecting the integrity of the Houston Rockets' lineup. In addition to VanVleet being injured for the season, Finney Smith's return seems to be far away now. To make matters worse for the Rockets, their forward Ethan is also injured and out. The news given by Uduka is that Ethan may be sidelined for 4 to 6 weeks. During this period, the best sixth man, who averaged 11 points and 5 rebounds per game and shot 50% from the field, was unable to play, and the Rockets could only use other players to fill in.

In this game against the Magic, Rockets coach Uduka took the initiative to change the lineup. The 29-year-old veteran shooter Aaron Holiday, who performed very well in the previous game and replaced Ethan, got another chance to play in this game. This is also the second consecutive game that he has entered the Rockets' rotation. In addition, the Rockets only used two centers, Shen Jing and Adams, in this game. Capela did not play for some unknown reason - Capela was not on the injured list the day before. It can be said that Capela may not meet Uduka's employment requirements for this game, so he was hidden.

Although Capela can protect the rim, he is slow. In addition, the Rockets already have Adams inside, and the two have almost the same style, so Udoka gave Adams more opportunities, and Capela did not get a chance to play. Among the Rockets' previous second lineup, Eason, Shepard, Adams and Capela were a traditional and fixed four-man rotation. Coupled with the starting five, the Rockets often used the classic nine-man rotation.

Now, with Capela not playing and Ethan missing due to injury, the Rockets gave Holiday some playing time. He scored 10 points in this game and became a key scoring point in the second team. Shepard, Aaron Holiday and Adams formed the Rockets' second lineup, coupled with the starting five. The Rockets used an eight-man rotation for this game, one less than the previous traditional nine-man rotation.

This shows that Uduka attaches great importance to this game, because he always uses an eight-man rotation lineup in key games, such as the playoffs last season. Now against the Magic, the Rockets still use an eight-man rotation, which is enough to show that Uduka's proactive change of formation is targeted. Although the game process was not so perfect, and the Rockets only scored 117 points in the game, they were able to stumble and defeat the Magic. This is the greatest success.

The Rockets' lineup changes for this game have taken effect. Holiday can basically replace Ethan's performance. He can hold the ball in his hands. He played 16 minutes in the game, scored two three-pointers, and had 10 points and 1 rebound. Uduka reused Holiday and did not misjudge the person.