Houston Rockets And The Race Atop The West
A little more than a fourth of the 2014-15 season has gone by proving to be more predictable than we all hoped — the Cleveland Cavaliers have struggled to adapt to their coach’s playing scheme; the Los Angeles Lakers have performed exactly as we hoped them to, badly; the injury-riddled Oklahoma City Thunder are making a comeback; the Western Conference is still a nightmare; and, the Eastern Conference looks even worse than last year.
Same old, same old.
Twenty-four games into the season the Houston Rockets remain as one of the best and deepest teams in the Western Conference which, even with their top defensive weapon, Dwight Howard, sidelined with a knee injury for the better part of the ongoing season, managed to post an 8-4 record during his absence on their way to an 18-5 overall record.
However, Howard was only one of the growing list of Rockets’ starters who missed a relatively significant stretch of the season due to injury — Patrick Beverley and Terrence Jones.
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A 10-deep roster and some unexpected performances from their bench guys propelled the Rockets into the third spot in the mighty Western Conference trailing only the Memphis Grizzlies and the streaking Golden State Warriors, for now.
With no signs of stopping any time soon, it is rather likely for the Houston Rockets to eventually face the Memphis Grizzlies and/or the Golden State Warriors in the playoffs. A rather unpleasant and messy experience that could eventually spell the early playoff-outing of any of the involved parties.
With the third spot in the West, the Rockets have got the second worst Point Differential amongst playoff-bound teams in said conference, +4.3, leading only the lucky-to-be-there Phoenix Suns‘ +0.5.
Even with their unappealing Point Differential, the Houston Rockets are an almost-perfect 14-1 against teams with losing records but they have had one of the easiest schedules in the league since only eight out of their twenty-three games have been against teams with winning records.
Against them, the Rockets have not been as successful as you’d imagine:
(Note: Red = Below Rockets’ Season Average; Green = Above Rockets’ Season Average.)
Four of the Rockets’ five losses in the season have come at the hands of teams with better than .500 records and two of them against arguably the best team in the league, the Golden State Warriors.
However, even at 4-4 the Rockets have a below league-average Defensive Rating and Offensive Rating — 105.27 and 102.3, respectively — against teams with an over .500 record.
The Rockets’ failure to deliver against teams with winning records could eventually spell their demise prompting them to fall out of the Western Conference title race or even get to the second-round of the upcoming playoffs for the third year in a row.
In an 0-2 hole against the Golden State Warriors and with a split series against the pounding Memphis Grizzlies, the Rockets need to step it up a notch as the season goes along. It is only through tough match-ups that the Rockets will be able to build up their confidence to beat the true elite of the NBA.
Fortunately for the Rockets, all of their under-performances and losses have come with Dwight Howard, one of the team’s cornerstones/leaders and one of the most physically imposing players in the league, sidelined with a right knee injury so,
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if Howard eases himself into his start of the season form, things are bound to improve for the Rockets.