Well its done, and they may have dropped out of first place 
. IMO, unless its a once a year type bad game, truly great teams don’t lose at home by 20 to other great teams. And its clear all other elite teams in the west can survive a poor game by their best player vs. another elite team- the Rockets clearly cannot.
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand…they got thumped again, this time by a team that ain’t exactly the Celtics. The Rockets just look bone tired. 
2 in a row.
I’m sure they are, and there’s also the law of averages coming into play. But the Hornets aren’t chopped liver either. They do lead the West.
[Johnny Carson] I did not know that! [/Johnny]
I can think of an example not listed.
In 1982, the University of Georgia basketball team featured the dominant performer Dominique Wilkins. Then Wilkins left for the NBA, and all hope was lost for the Bulldogs. Except that in the first year without Wilkins, they won the SEC tournament and went to the Final Four.
There are craploads more examples. Sometimes a team can buck the trend, even when they have Ewing Theory potential.