Houston Rockets: Early Takeaways Of The 2014-15 Season
Fully aware of Dwight Howard‘s 2014-15 season faux-hawk, I look at what has driven the Houston Rockets‘ “hot” start to the 2014-15 season and what should we keep tabs on as the season goes along.
Of course, the immensely underachieving Los Angeles Lakers and Utah Jazz are mostly the answer for the Rockets’ sudden rise. Nevertheless, let’s try and look closely at some of the things the Rockets are doing to take advantage of such depleted and vastly inferior teams.
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Opening Night couldn’t have gone any better for the Rockets as they squared off against a dismembered Lakers team that, with the loss of starting superstar point-guard
Steve Nash, are bound to have a much worse season than we thought. Fan-favorite Steve Nash’s loss for the season turned the Lakers into the most watchable team in the league.
Trust me, we will all enjoy this train-wreck far more than we should.
It didn’t change much on thursday. Against a bad Utah Jazz team, the Rockets unloaded a massively superior defense and offense that got them their second two-digit win of the regular season.
Anyway, the win should not revolve around the Lakers or Jazz rosters since it was the Rockets’ superb-offense which took early leads and a greater defensive commitment which protected said lead and empowered them to relatively cruise throughout both games.
Here’s what I can see out of their early 2-0 start:
Dwight Howard’s Usage:
In a league where big-men tend to get beaten up early through their careers, Howard is not the exception. With recurring lower-back and shoulder issues Howard’s numbers have been declining for the better part of the past three years, and, during the first two games of the season, Howard took too many of their offensive possessions.
- Usage Percentage: 31.9%
- Poins Per Game: 14.1
- Rockets Points Per Game: 106.0
- Rockets Pace: 93.9
Dwight Howard’s 31.9 usage percent translates into 29.9 offensive possessions. So, at 14.1 points per game, Howard is scoring .47 points per possession, which is almost half of what he was able to accomplish during the 2013-14 season with a much lower usage percentage (.77 points per possession, 24 percent usage).
Even if he’s picking the spots he’s supposed to, Howard’s not being as efficient as he should be with the ball.
Although clearly not something to make a big fuzz about, because of the miniscule sample size, it is something to keep an eye on as the season unfolds.
Houston Rockets’ Role-Players:
When you look closely at the Rockets’ 106.0 points per game, you’d realise that, even though Howard’s not scoring as he’s supposed to, the Rockets are still getting points on the board. And here’s why:
- Terrence Jones: 12.5 points per game.
- Jason Terry: 8 points per game.
- Trevor Ariza: 18 points per game.
- Kostas Papanikolaou: 8 points per game.
A solid effort from everyone who’s not a cornerstone on the Rockets and a huge offensive performance by Trevor Ariza during the first two games of the season. The Rockets will only get better if their role-players can keep this up as the season goes along thus taking pressure off of Howard and Harden to concentrate on what their supposed to.
With a series of injuries threatening Oklahoma City Thunder‘s playoff chances, the Rockets have to do whatever it takes to take their early success deep into the regular season and, hopefully, the playoffs.
With the bar set at approximately 50 wins to enter the Western Conference playoffs, building upon early success is key for the Houston Rockets contention chances.