Houston Rockets: 3 takeaways from March
2. Houston is winning games at a slower pace
Over the last five and a half seasons, the Rockets have proven to be one of the game’s most relentless squads when it comes to pushing the tempo on offense.
Implementing a high-octane attack to dismantle opposing teams in seven seconds or less, the franchise that has never finished lower than seventh in pace since the start of the James Harden era has now found a way to win games by surprisingly playing a slower brand of basketball.
Since the start of February, Houston is playing at the fourth-slowest pace in the league according to NBA.com, averaging just 98.14 possessions per 48 minutes. The Rockets have dropped six spots overall during that time span, putting them in danger of finishing outside the top 10 in pace for the first time since the 2011-12 regular season.
"“We’d like to play a little faster,” D’Antoni told Feigen earlier this month. “We’ll talk about it. We need to get up there. We’re turning into a defensive team and it’s really ticking me off. “I can’t speed them up. Every great player has his own speed. That’s how we play. We try to inch it up a little bit, but Chris Paul is going to play like Chris Paul. He’s a Hall of Fame player. Why change it? James is going to be James. There’ll be times where we push it and times when we don’t. You just get a feel for how you want to play and you do it.”"
While D’Antoni would more than likely prefer to see his squad take full advantage of opponents by playing at breakneck speeds, the offensive tactician cannot carp about the Rockets’ offense over the last month and a half, as opposing teams who come into Houston are still running into problems trying to contain the offense that features two of the game’s finest guards.
Despite working at a gradual pace, the Rockets currently stand atop of the league in both point differential and offensive rating, scoring 113.1 points per 100 possessions. They have found a way to terrorize teams in one-on-one situations with the help of Harden and Paul, who have recently sought to take advantage of mismatches and triggered defensive switches, by seeking to attack them out in isolation sets.
A team that once relied upon pushing the pace has officially established a unique offense of their own throughout the second half of the season.