Lowry is starting because better options are not on the bench and they play for other teams : bulls , wizards, thunder, spurs, celtics, jazz and hornets .
Because the makeup of this team. On defense, we don't have an elite backcourt defender, AB/Martin pair will be too weak on defensive end. On offense, if Rockets have Lebron or prime Tmac to run the team, AB might be the better option to play off them. But at this moment, we only have scoerers, we need somebody to run the team and get them the ball. Lowry does that better than AB. Rockets has completely changed after the trade last mid-season. Can AB start? Yes. But I don't think AB starting with Martin would be a good idea.
Lowry started even during the losing streak, keep in mind they've only won 4 out of their last 11 games.
