Houston Rockets Must Regain Identity Before It's Too Late

The last two games of the Houston Rockets' series with the Los Angeles Clippers have been about as close as James Harden’s shave. And if the Rockets don’t restore their identity, their next game will be their last.

The Rockets dropped Game 3 by a score of 124-99 and the next 128-95. Per Basketball-Reference.com’s Play Index, it was the first time since the 2001 Western Conference Finals—when the Los Angeles Lakers dealt the San Antonio Spurs a pair of drubbings—that a team has dropped consecutive playoff games in a series with a 25-point deficit or more.

There are only three other teams who have suffered such fates: The 2001 Miami Heat, 1986 Spurs and 1972 Golden State Warriors. None of those won another game. That’s a really bad omen.

Game 4 was a disaster on multiple fronts. If it’s possible for a 33-point blowout to be understated by the score, it was. A theme developed on Twitter.

It all started with the Rockets losing any sense of who they were as a team when they started sending DeAndre Jordan to the free-throw stripe.

Per ESPN Stats & Info:

"

DeAndre Jordan's 28 free throws in 1st half are a playoff record for a half (previous mark of 27 held by @SHAQ)

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) May 11, 2015"

And at the end, Elias reported via ESPN.com:

"

DeAndre Jordan scored 26 points, grabbed 17 rebounds and went 14-for-34 from the free-throw line during his 30 minutes on the court in the Clippers' lopsided victory over the Rockets in Game 4 of their second-round playoff series. That's the second-most foul shots ever attempted by an NBA player in a postseason game. Shaquille O'Neal made 18 of his 39 free throws and scored 40 points for the Lakers in their win over the Pacers in Game 2 of the 2000 NBA Finals.

The Clippers (37-for-63) had 33 more free-throw attempts than the Rockets (15-for-30) on Sunday. There have been only two playoff games in NBA history in which teams had a more lopsided difference in their totals of free-throw attempts. The largest such difference was in the first round of the 1968 playoffs, when the 76ers (42-for-66) took 38 more foul shots than the Knicks (17-for-28) in a 107-98 loss to New York at Madison Square Garden in Game 4 of that series.

"

It’s one thing to humiliate yourself by sending a guy whose free-throw percentage looks more like a batting average to the charity stripe over and over if you’re winning. But when you’re getting blown out doing it, it’s just self-abasement.

Jae C. Hong/Associated Press

Not all of the fouls on Jordan were intentional, but enough of them were to make it an embarrassment. The problem wasn’t just that the “watchability” of the game suffered, though. 

It was bad basketball and bad strategy.

The worst moment came late in the second quarter. The camera was focused on Corey Brewer, who was coming back on defense. Then, inexplicably, he darted toward the other side of the court.

He was chasing down Jordan to try and commit an intentional foul. It was, in a word, pathetic. Here was a team that had spent the entire season rebuilding its defensive identity saying it would rather play “Hack-a-Jordan” than try and get an honest stop playing with a man advantage.

Moments later, this happened:

When the two-minute mark had elapsed when hacking was no longer an option, the damage was done. Houston had lost its rhythm and confidence on both sides of the ball, and it was getting beaten.

The constant interruptions undercut the heart of the Rockets’ game. They weren’t getting out in transition because they weren’t actually playing defense. That had the effect of turning them into a half-court team, which is not their strength.

Ian Levy of Nylon Calculus figured out that the Rockets’ offense was even made worse by it.

"

On offensive possessions immediately following Jordan’s free throw attempts, the Rockets scored 17 points for an offensive efficiency of 1.00 points per possession. For comparison, they averaged about 1.04 points per possession during the regular season. In attempting to disrupt the offensive flow of the Clippers they may have damaged their own as well.

"

When the Rockets came out in the third, they disintegrated. They gave up 43 points, and it was effortless. It was a series of Jordan dunks and wide-open jumpers by J.J. Redick, Jamal Crawford and Austin Rivers. It wasn’t a question of “whether” the Clippers would score on each possession, but of whose turn it would be and how.

Per NBA.com, Los Angeles had an otherworldly 44 uncontested shots in the game. That included 12 unchallenged shots at the rim (determined by subtracting the contested shots from the total shots) and 11 threes (six with the closest defender from 4-6' and five without one within 6'). Those are the areas that Houston prides itself in protecting, yet it resulted in 57 points for the Clippers—just on the unopposed attempts.

And while the Clippers were putting this display of what can only be described as “ninja basketball,” the thought that kept running through my head was, “Dance with the girl that brung ya.”

There was one stat that really stood out above all the others: nine points off turnovers. This is a team that was fourth with 18.9 in the regular season.

The blame here falls on the shoulders of Kevin McHale. Per Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com, Harden didn't like the strategy, calling out his coach, saying, "Personally, I don't like it. But I guess different coaches have their different philosophies on the game."

This seems a bit like throwing your coach under the bus, but if the coach isn't trusting his players, that can happen. 

A big part of what the Rockets do is play aggressive defense. They get steals and turn those into points. Brewer is amazing at that, but they turned him into a "clown" running down Jordan on the opposite end of the court to commit intentional fouls.

The Rockets are staring at the cold, hard reality that they’re probably going to lose this series. But even if they do, they should go down swinging and being who they are. In Game 5, they need to come out and play the aggressive, disruptive defense that got them to the second round in the first place.

It’s better to go down like that than to turn themselves into national punchlines. And just maybe, they get a win.

Then, anything can happen.