Will 1st-Round Dominance Translate for Houston Rockets?
Rockets fans can almost rejoice. The Houston Rockets are tantalizingly close to a first-round victory over the rival Dallas Mavericks, sitting pretty with a 3-0 series lead. Barring a collapse of historical proportions, Houston will be moving on to the Western Conference Semifinals for just the second time in 18 years.
The Rockets have been taking care of business against a talented yet inferior Mavs team. The coaching staff deserves credit for identifying mismatches and taking advantage accordingly. Throughout the series, Houston has exposed the Mavericks' lack of size and defensive struggles, and it's worked quite well.
In Game 1, Dallas focused on containing James Harden, and role players like Jason Terry and Corey Brewer made the Mavs pay from beyond the arc. The Rockets drained 10 threes to go along with 50 points in the paint thanks to the pick-and-roll. They also forced 11 steals, their bread and butter, which resulted in 29 fast-break points.
In the second game, the teams played evenly until Josh Smith and Dwight Howard put on a dunk contest in the fourth quarter. The Mavs had no answer for the big man pick-and-rolls and repeated lobs.
Game 3 was simply the James Harden show. The Beard erupted for a playoff career-high 42 points, including two clutch baskets in the final minute to seal the deal. Howard also dominated inside, hauling in a playoff career-high 26 rebounds, including 11 on the offensive end.
Houston has had balanced contributions from all of its rotation players throughout the playoffs. As a result, the Rockets are up 3-0 and primed to advance to the next round.
It's been all fun and games thus far for the Rockets, but things won't get any easier. As much as we've all enjoyed the dismantling of the Mavs, Houston must realize that Dallas just isn't that good.
This Mavericks team is spiraling out of control. We thought the Rockets had it bad with health issues. The Mavs are just as banged up, with injuries to Chandler Parsons and Devin Harris and, most recently, to Raymond Felton and Richard Jefferson. Coach Rick Carlisle has had to deal with a limited lineup, as well as a disgruntled point guard.
It's safe to say the Rajon Rondo experiment has failed. The Mavs' big midseason acquisition may never play another game in a Dallas uniform, according to his own coach. He's out indefinitely with a back issue, but that may not be the real issue at hand.
The former All-Star and NBA champion had an uninspiring showing in the series' first two games before missing the third. Not only did he post a negative plus/minus in his 37 minutes played, but he also looked disinterested when on the court. The notion that "Playoff Rondo" would come to the rescue and amp things up in the postseason has been proved mythical, to the Mavs' dismay.
The truth of the matter is that the Rockets have been beating up on a team that's really just not that good, compared to the other Western Conference contenders. Dallas' only bright spots have been J.J. Barea and Monta Ellis. An older Dirk Nowitzki just isn't the same guy he used to be, and the Rockets have even picked on him for his deficient defense.
The competition in the following rounds will be much fiercer. The Rockets will await either the Los Angeles Clippers or San Antonio Spurs, with the defending champs leading the series two games to one.
Even with home-court advantage, the next round is sure to be much more of a challenge for Houston. The Rockets are winning their series by exposing Dallas' weaknesses, but the Clippers and Spurs have far fewer glaring issues.
In the regular season, the Rockets split their season series with the Clippers and lost 3-1 to the Spurs. Over the past few years, Houston has struggled to beat the Clips and has thrived against the Spurs, but ironically, the recent trends have been reversed. Since the All-Star break, the Rockets beat L.A. twice and lost back-to-back games to San Antonio.
Regardless of who it faces, Houston will have to play better to carry its success over into the next round. So far, the Rockets have gotten away with some sloppy basketball and uninspired defense.
In their series versus Dallas, the Rockets are turning it over 13 times per game. They also are giving up more than 111 points per contest. The defense has not been as strong as it was throughout the year. Especially when Howard comes out of the game, the lane has been wide open. It hasn't cost them yet, but the Rockets need to clean these things up before moving on against a tougher opponent.
We have not seen the Rockets' best basketball yet this postseason. Harden exploded in Game 3 but struggled a bit in the first two and can improve his shooting percentage. Howard has been dominant on both ends, but he has to stay in the game and avoid foul trouble. As for the bench, it has been stellar for the most part but must stay consistent on both ends.
The Rockets are a formidable contender for the first time in a while. If they want to keep up the winning, they need to keep firing offensively and step it up on defense in the next round.
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