Houston Rockets Facing Identity Crisis at Worst Possible Time
The Houston Rockets head to Los Angeles in search of more than just the series lead. Ever since Game 3 of the opening round of the playoffs, the Rockets seem to have lost their identity.
This was most evident in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals. Houston had six days off before hosting a Chris Paul-less Clippers team that, just 48 hours prior, had finished off the San Antonio Spurs in a grueling Game 7 of an emotionally draining series.
What should have been a cakewalk for the Rockets turned into a 117-101 drubbing. It also paved the way for Los Angeles to rest CP3 in Game 2.
Houston had been given a second chance to defeat the Clippers sans Paul. The only difference was this time the Rockets needed to win in order to avoid going to Los Angeles trailing two games to none. Despite earning a 115-109 victory, their performance failed to instill confidence in the prospect of this team making it past the second round of the playoffs.
As the nearly three-hour game played out, one free throw at a time, one thought kept coming to mind: If Houston is struggling this much at home to defeat a Clippers team that doesn't have one of the best players in the NBA, how is this series going to look when the Rockets go to Los Angeles and Paul returns?
For as much attention as the Rockets' stats-driven offense receives, it is their defense that has been most concerning this series. Houston ranked in the top six defensively this season, per NBA.com. Allowing the Clippers to reach triple digits in both games is simply unacceptable.
As the video illustrates, what's more egregious is Houston's lack of effort. While there are numerous examples to choose from, let's focus on Dwight Howard making zero effort to box out DeAndre Jordan at the 5:30 mark in the video. Instead, he just stands in front of Jordan, acting as if doing so was going to prevent the athletic seven-footer from getting to the ball.
At the 6:00 mark, Jamal Crawford goes through Trevor Ariza and Josh Smith like a warm knife cutting through butter. The two simply go through the motions rather than make a genuine attempt at coming between Crawford and the basket. The Rockets didn't build a successful defense with lazy rotations and poor transition defense, and if these ills continue to plague Houston, this will be a short series.
Offensively, the Rockets simply need to do a better job of executing. In Game 2 they shot an abysmal 19 percent from three-point range and 42.5 percent from the field. In addition to shooting poorly, sloppy fast breaks and careless turnovers are also uncharacteristic tendencies that have plagued Houston this series and further signal a team in the midst of an identity crisis.
There's even a James Harden turnover montage at the 1:26 mark of the following highlights package:
As the series shifts to Los Angeles, pay attention to how many times Houston is getting to the free-throw line. To the surprise of no one, the Rockets led the league in free-throw attempts per game this season, averaging just under 39 a contest, per NBA.com. After getting to the line 24 times in Game 1 and 64 times in Game 2, the challenge becomes finding ways to sustain these numbers on the road, where calls are typically harder to come by.
Whether it be courtesy of hack-a-player or their own ability to draw fouls, if the Rockets can get to the line at similar rates to what they were able to do at home, it will help keep them in games, take the Staples Center crowd out of it a bit and perhaps enable them to regain home-court advantage. Or, it could become yet another one of Houston's abandoned principles.
The Rockets will not only have to prevent the latter from happening, but also regain their identity and stop being tormented by qualities that are supposed to be strengths of theirs. These problems must be solved quickly if Houston is to avoid elimination.
.jpg?w=600 "Colts Release Kenny Moore")
