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Houston Rockets: Peaking At Right Time

By Mauricio Putz

Apr 5, 2015; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Houston Rockets guard James Harden (13) shoots the ball as Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0) defends during the fourth quarter at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 5, 2015; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Houston Rockets guard James Harden (13) shoots the ball as Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0) defends during the fourth quarter at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports /
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For most of the season, the jury’s been out on the Houston Rockets. Personally, I’ve been coming up with reasons on why they will eventually fail to reach the title pursuit they all but promised.

So far, the the self proclaimed “Swag-Champs” have been through it all, whether with injuries to their starting five — Patrick Beverley, Dwight Howard — or their rising stars — Terrence Jones, Donatas Motiejunas — while battling against one of the most competitive Western Conferences ever, the Houston Rockets have been there, done that.

Now, with only four games left, the Houston Rockets seem to be peaking at the right time with the healthiest roster they’ve seen all year. Yes, even though Patrick Beverley and Donatas Motiejunas are out for the season, the team is at peak health right now.

James Harden, after being amazing, to say the least, since the beginning of the season and putting the team on his back when they needed it the most, has not regressed even a bit. He leads the league in points per game, 27.7; points, 2,104; minutes played, 2,806; field-goal attempts, 1,390; free-throws made, 672; free-throw attempts, 777 (11 per game); Win Shares, 15.7; and Value Over Replacement, 7.5.

He’s also second in true shooting percentage*, .607, behind Stephen Curry‘s .632, and has the third-highest Player Efficiency Rating of the last 10 games and is second in true shooting percentage behind the one-of-a-kind Curry.

Dwight Howard’s minutes have been bumped all the way up to 24 per game, he’s still yet to make the full recovery needed for the big man to have any sort of impact in a game. Managing his minutes while on the restriction is key for Howard to be active late in games enhancing the Rockets’ chances to keep the Western Conference second-seed.

As you can see, even on a minute restriction, it only took Dwight Howard one game to go back to his old dominant form.*

RkOppMPFGFGAFG%FTFTAFT%TRBASTSTLBLKTOVPTS+/-
76@DALW (+7)18:0237.429221.000700018-10
77@OKCW (+3)22:551015.66727.2868020222+10

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 4/7/2015.

The good news for the Houston Rockets is that, by clinching the West’s second seed, they’ll have home-court advantage through the first two rounds of the playoffs and a first-round matchup against the lucky-to-be-there Dallas Mavericks. The bad news is that they’ll likely face the Spurs in the second-round.

The Houston Rockets’ playoff (read: title) chances rest solely on their ability to eventually carry into the playoffs the high level of play they’ve had for most of the season, specially the one they’ve had for the last 10 games.

Come playoff time, Dwight Howard and Terrence Jones will only have, at most, 41 and 33 games, respectively, under their belt. And even though James Harden has gotten them thus far, a second-round matchup against the rising Spurs could end the peaking Houston Rockets’ season sooner than they ever thought.

The second seed is key for the Rockets’ playoff run, an easy matchup in the first round will, obviously, get them closer to their goal. Unfortunately, the almighty old San Antonio Spurs are standing in their way.

Next: Rockets: Clint Capela is the Answer

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