2017 NBA Playoffs roundup, day 16: Rockets fire away, Cavaliers dominate Raptors as expected

Rockets Fire Away

Game 1 of this Western Conference semifinals series was over at halftime.

After years of the Phoenix Suns falling to the Spurs in the playoffs, Monday’s 27-point rout had to feel good for head coach Mike D’Antoni. As it turns out, his teams are still pretty damn good when he has a world-class offensive maestro flanked by shooters, and that’s doubly true in today’s pace-and-space game.

The Houston Rockets stunned the AT&T Center right from the start in the series opener, building a 15-point first quarter lead while firing away from three-point range. James Harden picked apart San Antonio’s top-ranked defense, finding open shooter after open shooter as the Spurs’ immobile bigs were relentlessly exploited on the perimeter.

With surgical precision, the Rockets fired away from downtown, with most of their looks being completely uncontested. The result? A jaw-dropping 69-39 lead at halftime, powered by 12 Houston three-pointers.

In the first half of Game 1, the Rockets made more three-pointers than they did in any game of their first round series against the Oklahoma City Thunder. A Mike D’Antoni team also held the Spurs’ top-five offense to just 39 first half points.

It was unexpected, unprecedented and yes, probably unsustainable.

But even as the Spurs look to bounce back in Game 2, when the Rockets’ revved-up engines will likely cool off a bit, we may see this result a few more times unless Gregg Popovich makes some major adjustments.

Harden dissected the Spurs defense, even with Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green draped all over him. He finished with only 20 points, but also added a playoff career-high 14 assists in just 31 minutes.

His work with Clint Capela in the pick-and-roll — especially after Houston knocked down so many open looks to start the game, forcing the help defense to stay on the perimeter — was unstoppable. Capela finished with a playoff career-high 20 points and 13 rebounds.

Trevor Ariza added 23 points on 5-of-10 shooting from beyond the arc. Ryan Anderson made four of his 10 threes. Eric Gordon and Lou Williams combined to go 5-for-10 from deep. Harden made three of his eight long range attempts, and the Rockets finished the game 22-for-50 from deep (44 percent).

Those 22 threes were a Rockets franchise record in the playoffs. Their 27-point margin of victory marked the Spurs’ largest Game 1 defeat under Popovich. It was complete and utter domination from start to finish. Even though it’s only one game, it was every Spurs fan’s worst fears being realized after the Rockets shot the three-ball so poorly in the first round (28.4 percent).

With the advantage of going small and having so many stretch-forwards, the Rockets struck first and they struck hard. If Harden continues to dissect the defense like this and the Rockets keep firing away, remembering the Alamo will be hard to do when it’s buried under the rubble of Houston’s high-powered assault.