A lot of Western Conference teams made gambles during the 2014-15 NBA season. The Dallas Mavericks gambled when they traded Brandan Wright, Jae Crowder and Jameer Nelson to acquire Rajon Rondo. The Memphis Grizzlies gambled when they traded for Jeff Green. But of all the midseason gambles, the one that seemed destined to fail above all others was the Houston Rockets picking up Josh Smith.
Ironically enough, the Josh Smith gamble may wind up having the biggest payoff.
Since Smith played in his first game with the Rockets on Dec. 26, Houston has posted a 40-20 record, including the playoffs. It wasn’t always smooth sailing; the Rockets struggled with J-Smoove in the starting lineup and went 4-4 in their first eight games with him onboard.
But once head coach Kevin McHale moved Smith into more of a sixth man role off the bench, Houston thrived, especially since Terrence Jones was injured for most of the season.
Jones is back for the playoffs, as is Dwight Howard, but with Donatas Motiejunas done for the year, Smith’s contributions have been huge — particularly in the playoffs.
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To be perfectly honest, the Mavericks were never going to challenge Houston in that first round series even if J-Smoove hadn’t stepped up. James Harden is an MVP candidate, the Mavs were dealing with a cancerous Rajon Rondo and they were starting Richard Jefferson in place of the injured Chandler Parsons. No one thought Dallas had any shot here.
That being said, it was still a very welcome sign to see Josh Smith play his best basketball since his prime with the Atlanta Hawks.
Though the first five games of the postseason, Smith is averaging 17.4 points, 6.4 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game while shooting 51.5 percent from the floor and 39.1 percent from three-point range…on 4.6 three-point attempts per game.
That’s right folks, the infamous long range bricklayer Josh Smith is making his threes now. He can also still do this:
We’ve heard all the gripes about Josh Smith before. He shoots way too many long-range twos. He’s not motivated enough. WHY THE #$*@ IS HE SHOOTING ANOTHER THREE?
To be clear, there’s no way in hell this kind of production is sustainable throughout the playoffs. The law of averages says J-Smoove will come back down to earth soon. But it’s not his three-point shooting that’s impressed the most so far in the postseason; it’s his connection with Dwight Howard in the paint.
As former AAU teammates, Howard’s relationship with Smith is a big reason the Rockets signed him in the first place. The Mavericks don’t have the greatest interior defense with Tyson Chandler getting older and Dirk Nowitzki being a downright liability, but Smith was absolutely magnificent when it came to dissecting the defense and finding Howard time and time again for an easy lob.
In Game 2, it reached Blake Griffin-to-DeAndre Jordan proportions when Smith nearly finished with a triple-double on 15 points, nine assists and eight rebounds. Six of those assists resulted in a Dwight Howard alley-oop dunk.
Of Howard’s 32 made field goals in these playoffs so far, 19 of them were assisted. Of those 19, a staggering 10 assists came directly from Josh Smith, per NBA.com. All 10 of them have been alley-oops or dunks.
Smith’s assist percentage (24.1) is second on the Rockets to only James Harden in the playoffs so far. For Howard to be so effective, he needs to continue thriving off Smith attacking the basket, drawing the defense in and finding Howard for a lob.
In the next round, Houston will be facing either the San Antonio Spurs or the Los Angeles Clippers, two teams with much better interior defenders. But even if Smith’s hot shooting streak comes to an end, Rockets fans should feel confident in the resurgence they’ve seen from Josh Smith all over the court…especially when it comes to his connection off the bench with Houston’s star center.
Josh Smith in the playoffs:
— Josh Eberley 🇨🇦 (@JoshEberley) April 29, 2015
As a Hawk:
15.8 PPG, 8.5 RPG, 42-17-68 %'s, 17.3 PER.
As a Rocket:
17.4 PPG, 6.4 RPG, 52-39-44 %'s, 21.6 PER.
Next: NBA Awards Watch: Final MVP Pick For 2014-15
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