For second straight game, rookie Jared McCain’s shooting struggles carry over in Sixers’ loss to Rockets

Jared McCain sees his struggles as a good thing.

The 76ers rookie loves thriving, but he gets excited after having bad games. That’s because McCain is determined to learn from them and watch game film. The guard knows that he’ll be back better and his shots are going to eventually fall.

Wednesday’s 122-115 overtime loss to the Houston Rockets marked his second straight poor-shooting night after being an offensive terror in the seven previous games. He finished with 15 points on 6-for-19 shooting — including missing all seven of his three-pointers — in 41 minutes, 2 seconds.

This comes after the NBA Rookie of the Year frontrunner had 18 points on 3-for-15 shooting in Sunday’s 125-99 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers. He shot 2 of 11 on three-pointers, snapping his streak of eight consecutive games with at least three three-pointers made. Sunday’s game also marked the first time in eight games that he failed to score at least 20 points.

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Similar to the Clippers game, the Rockets sent a lot of defenders McCain’s way. He struggled, at times, against their length and athleticism.

McCain is learning how to navigate the defensive scheme teams are starting to use to slow him down.

“It’s a long game, a long season, of course,” he said, “so there’s going to be bad games where you don’t make shots. But I think just learning how to read the help side, read what defenders are throwing at me, how can I get the mismatch. I think that’s what’s going to make me improve.”

McCain knows he also has to take his time. He rushed several catch-and-shoot attempts. They were shots that the 20-year-old knows he can knock down

But he did show some improvement. There were several times where he was able to penetrate in the paint in an attempt to make a play for himself or others. The Clippers took that option away from him, for the most part.

“I just try to find anyway to make steps in the right direction,” McCain said. “I love positive reinforcement, but obviously learning what you could do better. But I think this game was definitely easier to get to my midrange. And I’m going to make those shots. I missed a few. I was like [darn].

“I know I can make those, but those will go in with time. But getting to the middle is easy, and then finding teammates when they help our collapse, I’m starting to realize that.”

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McCain got off to a quick start, making two of his first three shots en route to six points on 3-for-7 shooting in the first quarter. He had 10 points on 5-for-12 at the half.

“Tough shooting night,” coach Nick Nurse said. “Not a lot of room, a lot of physicality, right? He’s going to see that, right? They’re going to come after a rookie. They are going to get on him physically.”

The Rockets (14-6) prevented McCain from getting open three-point looks. In addition to rushing shots, the former Duke standout was well covered on other attempts.

But that was all part of Houston’s game plan.

“He’s going to be right at the top of the game plan list behind Tyrese [Maxey], right?” Nurse said. “So he’ll keep learning, getting better. It’s a good experience for him.”