Houston Rockets: A Tale Of Two Seasons

The Houston Rockets have had a tumultuous start to the season, but things have improved since head coach Kevin McHale was fired in the early goings of 2015-16.

The Houston Rockets have been wildly unpredictable this season, starting the year off with a 4-7 record and the quick firing of head coach Kevin McHale just 11 games into 2015-16. Since then, the Rockets have been downright respectable and have climbed back to .500 with a record of 12-12 under interim head coach J.B. Bickerstaff.

In fact, over the course of an admittedly small sample size of 13 games in which the Rockets have an 8-5 record, Bickerstaff has a winning percentage of 61.5 which is the best mark in franchise history for a coach.

Perhaps not coincidentally, point guard Patrick Beverley returned from injury two games after Bickerstaff’s promotion. His reemergence allowed Ty Lawson to come off the bench in what seems to be a more natural fit for the ball-dominant guard.

Beverley has put up numbers well above his career averages in the 11 games he’s played since coming back. He’s started 10 games, and is recording shooting splits of .432/.404/.857, all of which would be career highs. He’s averaging 1.7 steals in just 28 minutes per game as well.

One of the benefits to Beverley in the starting lineup over Ty Lawson is that Beverley doesn’t need the ball in his hands to be effective, allowing James Harden to cook with the ball. While Harden and Lawson were a train-wreck together on the floor, the combination of Harden and Beverley has been productive.

The Rockets have an offensive rating of 111.2 points per 100 possessions when Harden and Beverley play together since Lawson was demoted to the second unit, according to NBA Wowy, while recording an effective field goal percentage of 54.9 percent and a true shooting percentage of 58 percent, both of which are much improved from their basement-dwelling rankings earlier this season.

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As a team, according to stats.NBA.com, the Rockets have the third-best offensive rating in the NBA over the last 11 games, scoring 108.5 points per 100 possessions. The defense is still a work in progress (to put it kindly) giving up a seventh-worst 105.5 defensive rating, while the corresponding net rating of +3 per 100 possessions is 10th best in the NBA.

Considering the fact that the Rockets were one of the worst teams in the league in almost every significant statistical category for about a month (and still have a minus-3 net rating thanks to the damage that was done early this season), this is an improvement they can see signs of hope in going forward.

The Rockets have suddenly become an effective and efficient shooting team over the past 11 games, posting the second best effective field goal percentage and third best true shooting percentage at 52.9 percent and 56.8 percent respectively.

Finally, it’s no secret that as James Harden goes, so go the Houston Rockets. Harden has bee putting up big scoring numbers all season, currently second in the NBA in scoring with 29.1 points per game, but until recently he has struggled with his efficiency.

In the last 11 games, however, things have shifted. Harden is now shooting 45 percent from the floor, hitting an average of 9-of-20 shots per game, and is shooting 42.7 percent from three-point range. Early in the season, he was shooting over 10 three-pointers per game and hitting a poor percentage, but he is now hitting an average of 2.9-of-6.8 threes per game.

Harden is scoring 30.1 points per game, with an effective field goal percentage of 52.3 and a true shooting rate of 61 percent over these 11 games. This team doesn’t have much of a chance on a nightly basis if Harden isn’t cooking, so it should come as a great relief to the Rockets’ organization and fans that he is back in his groove.

The early season malaise has been blamed on poor effort, bad luck, a lack of intestinal fortitude and as evidenced by the fact that the Rockets no longer have the coach they started the season with, ineffective coaching. But perhaps the most damning issue was a lack of aggression from James Harden, who was exhibiting a preference to settle for tough outside shots instead of driving the lane, creating contact and getting to the line.

Next: 25 Best Players To Play For The Houston Rockets

While the season is long and any number of things may develop to unsettle the Rockets’ recent strong play, the most important missing link appears to be back in place for this squad, and that is an aggressive James Harden.