Houston Rockets' Backup Plan Working Out Just Fine
The Houston Rockets just keep on rolling, solidifying their contender cred and vindicating the value of a sound contingency plan all at once.
The young Minnesota Timberwolves were Houston's latest victim. Though competitive in the early going, Andrew Wiggins and his young pals eventually succumbed to the Rockets, leaving Mexico City (yes, the game was played south of the border) with a 113-101 defeat and a valuable lesson: Houston is legit.
As you'd suspect, the Rockets got contributions from their stars. James Harden led all scorers with 23 points, though he ran into impressive resistance from Wiggins—particularly early in the game.
It took The Beard 23 shots to get his points, making this one of his less-efficient outings on the season. But he made up for it by playing the role of facilitator brilliantly. For all of the flak Harden continues to catch for his defense and sometimes difficult-to-watch, demolition-derby approach to drawing contact, the guy can flat out pass the rock.
Harden finished with 10 dimes, including one particularly notable for its sneakiness:
Dwight Howard, looking frighteningly like a 2009 version of himself, dominated on the interior. And though he was visibly upset at a lack of touches during one second-quarter sequence, he finished the contest with a very tidy 22 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks in 33 minutes.
Harden and Howard are the givens; what's been particularly impressive about Houston's 7-1 start is the way the team's less-heralded role players have fit so neatly into the picture. Playing without starters Terrence Jones and Patrick Beverley, the Rockets leaned on Donatas Motiejunas and rookie Kostas Papanikolaou to fill in, and both responded with solid all-around efforts.
Motiejunas contributed eight points, seven boards and four assists, while Papanikolaou (who earned a special place in my heart the second he entered the NBA because of his left-handed craftiness) added 14 points and four assists. He also nailed all four of his triple tries for good measure, displaying the shooting touch he'd been missing to start the year.
Speaking of which, the Rockets have been casting away from downtown at record rates.
Couple that prolific long-bombing with Houston's nightly Harden-led parade to the foul line, and you've got yourself a recipe for offensive efficiency. Of course, the Rockets also lead the league in defensive efficiency, per NBA.com—which is a testament to Howard's return to form as much as anything else.
You know what has to come next, don't you?
Yeah, the "Praise Daryl Morey" section necessarily follows. Deal with it.
It's becoming old hat, but there's just no way to ignore how Morey's Rockets engineered this remarkable roster as a backup plan. After missing out on Chris Bosh in free agency and losing Chandler Parsons to the Dallas Mavericks (not to mention jettisoning Omer Asik and Jeremy Lin), Houston adjusted on the fly.
Trevor Ariza came aboard, and all he's done is play terrific defense and bury threes at a 48 percent clip. To say he's replaced Parsons is an understatement; he's been better than the former Rockets small forward.
Toss in Papanikolaou, undrafted rookie Tarik Black (who had 10 points against Minnesota) and veteran sniper Jason Terry, and you've got another trio of shrewd pickups who've all contributed this year. And credit the Rockets for trusting in the development of Beverley and Jones, both of whom were playing well before going down with injuries.
Morey, of course, saw it coming, telling Bleacher Report's Howard Beck in July:
"Up and down the roster we had guys who are going to go into their first, second, third year and going to get better. We like our position. We might have liked the Bosh-Parsons position a little bit more, but I think we’re going to come out of this still as a top-four seed in the West, and I think we’ll be a better team going into this year’s playoffs than last year’s.
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An offseason that was supposed to weaken the Rockets after they ignominiously bowed out of a first-round playoff series against the underdog Portland Trail Blazers has instead made the team more formidable. Most teams don't gamble as recklessly as the Rockets do during the summer, swinging big for stars and subjecting themselves to potential failure.
That makes them unusual.
And it's hard to think of anybody who has recovered better from a blown-up plan.
That makes them special.
These pieces fit better than the ones that piled up 54 wins last year, the team's cap situation is more flexible than it would have otherwise been, and despite last summer's disappointment, the Rockets are in position to go after virtually whoever they want on the trade market now and the free-agent pool later.
Looking ahead to the near future, the rolling Rockets play nine more games this month. Six of them will be at home, and five will come against teams in last year's lottery. So don't expect the early surge to slow down at all.
Sitting atop the conference despite playing without two starters and flashing two-way dominance that screams contention, Houston is hot.
Not bad for a backup plan.
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