Five biggest losers of the 2020 bubble’s NBA playoffs

3. Morey ball

Micro-ball might not have been the proper approach to take down Anthony Davis and the Los Angeles Lakers, but it’s not what ultimately cost the Houston Rockets their season. Spacing and defensive versatility are key principles to NBA success in 2020 and the Rockets maximized their ability to provide both.

Houston seeks threes and layups independent of circumstance. Anything else goes against the math Daryl Morey has used to shape a routinely prolific offense. But in a reactionary sport where creativity and improvisation shine, those staunch preferences have been their undoing several times over and now have Morey stepping down as general manager.

Every team has a plan A. When defenses naturally take away that first option, the great teams counter with plans B through Z.

The Rockets have never had a counter and defenses know it. LA was indifferent to any Rocket in 2-point range outside the paint, knowing full well they’d never abandon the principles they’d been taught. Their scoring through those five games dropped 14 points compared to the regular season average because they continued to pound on a door the Lakers had boarded shut.

In the age of analytics, there’s nothing wrong with the pursuit of efficiency. Houston simply has to find ways to balance that chase with the realities of basketball, especially in the playoffs, where the best shot is the most available one, even if it’s not the most analytically sound look.

Hopefully, this most recent elimination and the organizational changes it’s brought will finally open them to some semblance of that realization.