Houston Rockets: Ring The Alarm, It’s Time To Panic
By Aaron Mah
Seven months ago, the Houston Rockets shocked the entire NBA universe — rekindling the mythical spirits of Clutch City as they clawed back from a 3-1 deficit to defeat the Los Angeles Clippers in the Western Conference Semifinals.
Although the team would fall to the eventual NBA champions, the Golden State Warriors, in five games the very next round, the Rockets put up a valiant fight — especially during Games 1 and 2 of the series, when the Dubs won both contests by a grand total of five points.
Sure enough, expectations were crescendoed to a “championship or bust” level as they entered the 2015-16 NBA campaign.
Not only did Houston bring back essentially the identical team for another rendezvous (save for Josh Smith, who signed with the rival Clippers), the Rockets also managed to bolster their backcourt by acquiring the ultra-talented, but often times mercurial, Ty Lawson.
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Lawson, in his own words, was supposed to serve as the answer to Houston’s Stephen Curry quagmire,
“Steph Curry needed someone to go back at him,” Lawson told Yahoo Sports. “I thought Steph was just chillin’ on defense — and then going crazy on offense. He looked like he was just putting shots up and not working so much on the defensive end. He would just come down and hit three or four 3s. He can shoot when he’s got his legs under him.”
However, the franchise’s aspirations of dethroning the almighty Warriors, who looks as if they might never lose a game thus far in the early season, has been put to a screeching halt.
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More specifically, the Rockets are not only having trouble sneaking into the Western Conference playoff picture, they are struggling to reach the .500 mark.
The team currently sits at 4-7, with wins coming against a Chris Paul-less Los Angeles Clippers (on the road), a DeMarcus Cousins-less Sacramento Kings (at home), the Orlando Magic in overtime, and perhaps, in their most impressive victory of the season, when they defeated a healthy Oklahoma City Thunder at the Toyota Center.
So, what is the reasoning behind the Rockets’ staggering start? Just a year ago, despite going without the services of Dwight Howard for over half-a-season, Houston still managed to muster a borderline top-five defense.
This year? The Rockets seem listless; unmotivated.
Explicitly, the team presently ranks second-to-last in the league in defensive efficiency, allowing over 106.5 points per 100 possessions — only the New Orleans Pelicans concede more — per NBA.com.
In fact, while the Rockets play at the seventh-highest pace in the association, they have yet to hold an opponent to less than 100 points in a game this year — inexcusable for any team that does not play at a 1982-83 Denver Nuggets-like breakneck tempo.
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Sure, one can point to the myriad of injuries the Rockets have suffered through 11 games as the root of their dire play.
In particular, their frontcourt rotation had been decimated, as Dwight Howard has appeared in only seven games, Terrence Jones in six, while Donatas Montejunas has yet to play in an NBA contest this season as he continues to recover from his offseason back surgery.
As a result, Kevin McHale has had to go super small, sliding Marcus Thornton into the starting lineup and utilizing James Harden as the de facto 4.
Not surprisingly, the Rockets has given up an inordinate amount of second-chance opportunities, ranking 29th in the league in opponent offensive rebound percentage (27.8 percent) and relenting more than 50 points a game in the paint, by far the worst mark in the NBA.
Contrary to conventional logic, though, their problems on the defensive end have much more to do with the team’s lackluster effort, as oppose to their lack of size. Even with Howard and Jones on the floor at the same time, their opponent offensive rebound percentage explodes north of 35 percent.
Most notably, Lawson is a significant downgrade on defense from Patrick Beverley. Meanwhile, Harden has regressed on that end of the floor after showcasing a more concerted effort last year. Likewise, Dwight’s days as a Defensive of Player of the Year candidate are, unfortunately, a distant memory.
Lawson, although quick and shifty, lacks the size and positional wherewithal to defend the pick-and-roll with any consistent effectiveness, as he often gives up middle penetration and fails to force the opposing ballhandler away from the screen and towards the sideline.
Harden, on the other hand, is quickly reverting back to the laughable internet sensation he was just two seasons ago.
Perhaps, most importantly, Howard is simply a shell of his former self athletically. Superman was once the most intimidating interior presence in the NBA — a three-time Defensive of Player of the Year who singlehandedly pushed an undermanned Orlando Magic team to the NBA finals in 2009.
But, Dwight’s days as the premier rim protector is all but over, as he ranks dead last in rim protection among all NBA players who defend eight or more shots a game at the basket — as the opposition convert on over 58.5 percent of their attempts at the rim when Howard is patrolling the paint, per NBA.com’s SportVU Data.
To compound their concerning issues on D, their defensive effort in transition has been unbearable. Too many times, after a missed shot or a turnover, do we see four rockets nonchalantly trot back to the other end as the opposing team rumbles down and score an unimpeded two, or worse yet, corner three.
In fact, the Rockets rank second-to-last in the league in opponent points off of a turnover.
All of their lethargic shortcomings reared its ugly head this Monday, when Houston fell to the Boston Celtics at home.
Despite rushing out to a 10-point lead early in the second quarter, the Rockets were ran out of their own building in the 3rd — giving up six offensive rebounds, committing seven turnovers, and surrounding every loose ball, as the Cs outscored Clutch City 32-13 for the period.
The Rockets simply could not halt Boston’s unwavering defensive pressure, converting on just five of their 17 field goal attempts. Horrendous team defense, which lead to an avalanche of open looks, would dig the team into a deficit — a deficit they would fail to recover from.
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Going forward, the Rockets have too much talent not to make a push back into playoff contention.
However, a change must be made; whether the said change calls for a coaching switch, staggering Lawson’s and Harden’s minutes even more extensively, or making a midseason trade, the team direly needs an injection of energy.
Ty Lawson said the Rockets had a players only meeting Tuesday morning. He said it was a productive meeting.https://t.co/nUyJB16wGb
— Calvin Watkins (@calvinwatkins) November 17, 2015
The Houston Rockets can have as many players-only meetings as they want, but unless the 15 men on the incumbent roster shows some indication of the heart and hustle they played with last season, expect their struggles to continue.