Houston Rockets Validate Divisive Blueprint with Western Conference Finals Trip
For so long, the Houston Rockets' championship blueprint looked like an expert-level jigsaw puzzle. Their pieces were polarizing and plentiful, but fitting them together figured to be a daunting challenge full of frustration.
James Harden and Dwight Howard were the constants, but questions lingered regarding the supporting cast's ability to lift them to new heights. Could Trevor Ariza adequately replace Chandler Parsons? Would the Rockets' scheme be able to revive Josh Smith's career? Did Corey Brewer and Pablo Prigioni have anything meaningful left to offer?
Most importantly, could a system that often lacked flow and appeared amorphous wind up sustaining efficient production against playoff teams renowned for schematic accomplishments?
The answer to all those questions is an emphatic yes.
After the Los Angeles Clippers took a 3-1 series lead in the Western Conference semifinals, the Rockets stormed back and won three straight, punctuated by a 113-100 Game 7 win Sunday afternoon at Toyota Center.
By beating the odds, Houston joined an exclusive list that included just eight teams prior to its comeback, according to NBA TV:
As he has all season, Harden led the charge, totaling a game-high 31 points (7-of-20 shooting, 15-of-18 from the free-throw line), eight assists and seven rebounds.
"For the most part we stayed in attack mode," Rockets coach Kevin McHale said, according to ProBasketballTalk.com's Kurt Helin. "I thought James (Harden) was fantastic, 31 points, big free throws down the stretch. He got us going with some passes early."
But this was about more than Harden.
It was about validating the process.
The Rockets' moves have long been questioned as unorthodox, and in truth, they have been. Letting an up-and-coming scorer like Parsons walk over the summer was a head-scratcher, particularly after he was replaced by the less prolific Trevor Ariza.
However, Ariza proved his worth time and again and did so in decisive fashion Sunday afternoon. Outside of Harden, no Houston player tallied more points than Ariza (22), who set the tone with a 6-of-12 shooting display from three.
"When we lost Chandler [Parsons], first guy I wanted was Trevor," Harden said following the win, according to FanSided's Jared Wade. "He's a winner, and that's what I like around me: Winners."
Combine Ariza's production with 15 points from Josh Smith and 11 from Corey Brewer, and it's pretty remarkable how Houston's been able to efficiently fill its cap space, as Bleacher Report's Andy Bailey explained:
In an epic if not totally strange seven-game series, Brewer tallied double-figures five times, Smith came out guns blazing with a combined 34 points in Games 6 and 7 and Ariza topped 10 points in every outing. Prigioni even added four points, four assists, three steals and finished a team-best plus-20 during his 20 minutes on the floor in Game 7.
"Maybe the most impressive bit of his game was the 3-pointer he made over an unsuspecting DeAndre Jordan," CBSSports.com's Zach Harper wrote. "How unlikely was that hit for Prigioni? He was shooting just 29.4 percent on 3-pointers in 11 games of the playoffs so far. He had made just 27.5 percent of his 3's in the regular season after being acquired by the Rockets."
For a Clippers team that was ridiculed for its lack of depth all season long, that kind of timely production had to sting in the worst possible way. Their fatal flaw was exposed by a band of misfits, and as Grantland's Zach Lowe noted, the Clippers could have used a few of them on their side Sunday:
Houston's formula was so successful that outspoken Rockets critic and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban went out of his way to congratulate his interstate rival:
"Congrats to the Rockets. Gotta admit I was wrong. A lot.of guys stepped up. Congrats @dmorey
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) May 17, 2015"
While the Rockets have been renowned as offensive trendsetters in some corners, their unconventional approach didn't look like it would be able to carry them to their first Western Conference Finals since 1997.
At times this season, Houston's played the role of villain based on its preferred style of play. Instead of always running crisp actions a la the Clippers, Mavericks and Golden State Warriors, Houston relied on bevies of threes and truckloads of free throws while defaulting to Harden isolations to sustain the offense.
The Rockets shot 44.4 percent from the field—good for No. 20 overall—and still managed to finish ranked 12th in offensive efficiency (104.2 points per 100 possessions). Furthermore, Houston set an NBA record by drilling 933 threes, shots it swished at a league-average 34.8 percent rate.
Led by Harden, the Rockets also ranked second in free-throw attempts (26 per game) yet ranked 27th with a conversion rate of 71.5 percent.
Pretty, it was not. But damn if it hasn't been effective.
And now the fun starts.
The Golden State Warriors swept Houston during the regular season, but now the Rockets are presented with a chance to atone for four blowout losses. Over the course of those defeats, Houston was outscored by an average of 15.2 points, shot 40.2 percent from the field and hit 29.5 percent of its threes.
The Warriors owned them statistically and stylistically.
| Golden State Warriors | 107.4 | 98.8 | +8.6 |
| Houston Rockets | 105.9 | 106.8 | -0.9 |
That said, the Rockets' ability to remain resilient in the midst of adversity is only fueling their championship bid at this point.
They weren't supposed to be here after going down 3-1, and they definitely weren't supposed to be here after trailing the Clippers by 13 points in the fourth quarter of Game 6.
That's called playing with house money.
Emphatic statements made and odds defied, the Rockets have history in their sights. More than that, they can validate their place among the league's elite and prove once and for all that their offense is anything but a stigmatized gimmick.
All statistics are current as of May 17 and courtesy of NBA.com unless noted otherwise.
Alec Nathan covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter: @AlecBNathan.
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