On two separate possessions in the second quarter Thursday night, the New Orleans Pelicans secured three offensive rebounds.

They came away empty-handed on both possessions.

It was a night like this in a season like this for the Pelicans, who are still stuck in their rut.

For the second time in seven days, the Pelicans lost to the Houston Rockets.

This time a 128-111 victory in front of a Smoothie King Center crowd that expressed its frustration with boos throughout the game.

The Pelicans (5-26) have now lost eight straight games and 17 of their last 18. They only won one game in December when they defeated the Phoenix Suns on December 5th.

A week ago, the Pelicans lost 133-113 to the Rockets at Toyota Center. That was the most points the Pelicans have allowed in a game this season.

The Rockets (21-9), second in the Western Conference standings, were on track to surpass this early Thursday when they built a 39-22 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The Pelicans missed their first 10 3-pointers before CJ McCollum finally made one with 7:45 left in the second quarter. They finished the first half making just 4 of 20 on 3-pointers.

They weren’t much better from close range, shooting a dismal 12 of 32 from the field in the first half and trailing 61-43 at halftime.

Although the Pelicans grabbed 10 offensive rebounds in the first half, they only had five second-chance points.

Pelicans coach Willie Green spoke before the game about the importance of rebounding against the Rockets, the NBA leaders in that category.

“That’s definitely a focus of this game,” Green said. “But it is still one of our staple foods. Come out and take care of your possessions. It helps your defense if you can finish possession and not give teams additional chances to score.”

The Pelicans trailed by as much as 30 minutes and Green took the lead with 8:54 left.

Trey Murphy, who played despite suffering an ankle sprain in Sunday’s loss to the Denver Nuggets, scored 21 points. That included a thunderous dunk late in the third quarter, one of the few bright spots in this recent loss.

The Pelicans are 0-3 on their current five-game homestand, which ends with a game on Friday against the Memphis Grizzlies and then on Monday against the Los Angeles Clippers.