SALMAN ALI

The Rockets aren’t back, but they are making strides

The Rockets aren’t back, but they are making strides
James Harden's return has been big for the Rockets. Tim Warren/Getty Images

After starting the season 1-5, the Houston Rockets have now won three games in a row, including Monday night’s 98-94 nail-biter against the Indiana Pacers. It took some time and important guys returning from injury, but the Rockets are finally starting to look like a decent basketball team again. They still aren’t near the team they were last year, but with how bad they looked this time last week, "decent" is a marked improvement.

It should be noted that two of Houston’s three consecutive victories came against the Brooklyn Nets and the Chicago Bulls - two teams poised to enter the lottery at the end of the year. The Rockets still have a losing record at 4-5 with a -4.8 point differential, but they’re headed in the right direction and that’s all head coach Mike D’Antoni could ask for.

Getting guys back

Probably the biggest reason for Houston’s turnaround is the return of James Ennis and James Harden. The Rockets have been a miserable defensive team in Ennis’ absence, who was brought in this summer to be a replacement to forward Trevor Ariza in the starting lineup. In October, the Rockets were the 25th ranked defense in the league, giving up 113.3 points per 100 possessions. Since Ennis returned to the starting lineup, the Rockets are the sixth best defense in the league, only giving up 103.2 points per 100 possessions.

That’s a staggering 10 point swing. If you you take it one step further and isolate the games where Ennis plays, the Rockets are defending 4.8 points per 100 possessions better when he’s on the court versus off the court. He’s clearly a super important player to Houston’s switch-everything scheme. (As an aside, Houston’s switches look a lot crisper as of late.)

It doesn’t take a genius to understand why missing Harden might be a problem. As good as Chris Paul is, Harden is and always will be Houston’s foundation. The entire offense starts and finishes around Harden and when he missed games, the Rockets just struggled to find consistent scoring across the board. Since his return, Harden is averaging 26.5 PPG and 6.5 APG on 67.1% true shooting and the Rockets are playing 10.1 points per 100 possessions better as a team when he’s on the floor.

Reducing roles for Melo and MCW

Injuries in the NBA suck, but they suck even more when you don’t have guys who can adequately fill roles for you when key guys are gone. When Carmelo Anthony was signed back in August, it was clear early on that the role the Rockets had in mind involved him coming off the bench. So when he was asked to start for Houston, it only exasperated Houston’s early defensive struggles. Since  Ennis has come back,  Anthony has looked stellar in his bench role:

17.7 PPG

5.3 RPG

39.1% from 3-PT range

69.6% True Shooting

The Rockets have simplified Anthony’s role by taking away the burden of shot creation against starting lineups and made him a player on the second unit that can spot-up for open 3s and create only on occasion. Their defense has also looked a lot better since he took the bench.

Michael-Carter Williams on the other hand, is a different story. Williams was brought in to be a fourth, defensive-minded guard on the second unit and so far, he’s just not been impactful enough to justify playing. Mike D’Antoni was faced with no other options but to play him heavy minutes during Houston’s injury spell as Chris Paul and Eric Gordon couldn’t both play 48 minutes a night. When he played, he shrunk the floor for the Rockets due to his inability to hit open 3-pointers. Defenders sagged off of him and Houston was left to effectively play 4 on 5 and their offense struggled for it.

With the Rockets returning close to full-health, they’ve effectively phased Williams out of the rotation in favor of more reliable floor spacers.

Gary Clark, Gary Clark, and more Gary Clark

Rarely do you see Mike D’Antoni trust a young player the way he’s trusted 23-year-old Gary Clark these past three games. The Rockets seemed to have found a diamond in the rough in the form of a two-way contract guy who can defend the perimeter with extraordinary instincts for a player of his age. He’s 6’8” with a 6’10” wingspan and looks to be capable of defending multiple positions, which is tailor-made for Houston’s system.

The undrafted rookie has seen an increase in minutes by the game:

9:02 against Brooklyn on Nov. 2

21:09 against Chicago on Nov. 3

23:30 against Indiana on Nov. 5

The Rockets are defending 13.1 points per 100 possessions better Clark is on the floor for the season which is unheard of. If you isolate it even further to the last three games, it’s 18.4 points per 100 possessions. It seems the Rockets may have found their Trevor Ariza replacement in Ennis, but if Gary Clark keeps defending like this and getting minutes, they may have also found some facsimile of a Luc Mbah a Moute replacement.

Now, it’s early. And the Rockets are having to fill minutes without Eric Gordon due to knee soreness, but quality young players have found ways to crack D’Antoni’s rotation before so it’s not unheard of.

The Rockets still have a lot of work to do before we consider them a good team again, but progress has been made. For a team that was as bad as Houston was last week, progress is all you could ask for at this point.

 

Most Popular

SportsMap Emails
Are Awesome

Listen Live

ESPN Houston 97.5 FM
Vegas likes Houston. Composite Getty Image.

Bruce Bochy doesn’t ever want the Texas Rangers to let go of those memories of their first World Series title.

“We just don’t want to lean on them,” said Bochy, whose first season with the Rangers ended with the first World Series championship for the 63-year-old franchise, and his fourth as a big league manager.

While Texas has the opportunity to be the first team in a quarter-century to win back-to-back world championships — the New York Yankees were the last, with three in a row from 1998-2000 — the Rangers aren’t even defending champs in their own division.

And they aren’t favored to win the AL West this season.

Houston is again the odds-on favorite in the division it has won each of the last six full MLB seasons since the Rangers finished on top in 2016. The Astros won their regular season finale last Oct. 1, matched Texas at 90-72 and won the AL West since they were 9-4 head-to-head.

The Astros have made the AL Championship Series the past seven seasons, even when not division champs in the 2020 season shortened to 60 games because of the pandemic. They made four trips to the Fall Classic and won two titles in that span.

Dusty Baker retired days after Houston lost ALCS Game 7 at home to the Rangers last fall, finishing with 2,183 wins over 26 seasons as a big league manager with five teams.

New Astros manager Joe Espada, their bench coach for six seasons, is certainly familiar with a lineup that has big hitters Jose Altuve, Yordan Alvarez, Alex Bregman and Kyle Tucker, and a loaded starting rotation.

Espada isn't the division's only new manager. Ron Washington, who took the Rangers to their previous World Series in 2010 and 2011, was hired by the Angels, who still have Mike Trout but not two-way star Shohei Ohtani, now with the other team in Los Angeles.

Seattle again revamped its roster without big spending in free agency and hopes for a quicker return to the playoffs. The Mariners missed by one game last season, a year after its first postseason appearance since 2001.

And just like last year, the Athletics go into another season not knowing if it will be their last in Oakland.

HOW THEY PROJECT

1. Houston Astros. Three-time Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander, reacquired in a deadline trade last July, will start this season on the injured list. But the 41-year-old’s IL stint is expected to be a short one. The Astros still have lefty Framber Valdez (12-11, 2.45 ERA, 200 strikeouts and a no-hitter) and right-hander Cristian Javier. Eight-time All-Star second baseman Altuve signed a new $125 million, five-year contract that goes through 2029. But two-time All-Star third baseman Bregman, the only other position player to make all seven ALCS trips, is at the end of a $100 million deal.

2. Texas Rangers. After going from six losing seasons in a row to a World Series title, the Rangers should be playoff contenders again. They return ALCS MVP Adolis García and most of the lineup that hit 233 homers and scored an AL-high 5.4 runs per game. But World Series MVP and AL MVP runner-up shortstop Corey Seager (sports hernia), Gold Glove first baseman Nathaniel Lowe (oblique strain) and All-Star third baseman Josh Jung (calf) missed significant time in the spring. All-Star right-hander Nathan Eovaldi tops a rotation still missing injured multiple Cy Young Award winners Max Scherzer and Jacob deGrom.

3. Seattle Mariners. The front office put together a roster that might be better than last year, but everybody has to stay healthy. Seattle should be better offensively with the additions of Mitch Garver, Mitch Haniger, Jorge Polanco and Luke Raley to go with young superstar Julio Rodriguez. If J.P. Crawford can replicate last season at the plate and Ty France returns to his 2021-22 form, the lineup will be deeper. Couple a better offense with one of the best rotations in baseball led by Luis Castillo, George Kirby and Logan Gilbert, the Mariners should once again contend in the division.

4. Los Angeles Angels. They feel like they’re starting over yet again and still haven't been to the playoffs since 2014. Ohtani left after six seasons for a record $700 million with the perennially contending Dodgers. The Halos added almost nothing in free agency, only revamping their bullpen again and taking low-cost flyers on Aaron Hicks and Miguel Sano. Trout and Anthony Rendon are back, and an open DH spot will allow them to rest their injury-prone bodies more regularly. Their rotation is last year’s group minus Ohtani. The 71-year-old Washington brings a unique blend of expertise and enthusiasm, which should benefit an exciting crop of young talent ready to break through in the majors.

5. Oakland Athletics. This could be the final season playing at the Coliseum with a lease set to expire. So the A's are still trying to figure out where they will play beyond this year with a new ballpark and move to Las Vegas scheduled for 2028. Manager Mark Kotsay has been committed to keeping his team focused on what it can do to be better on the field after two years with a combined 214 losses (112 last season). The A’s acquired Ross Stripling from the San Francisco Giants and added Alex Wood to the rotation.

OLD SKIPPERS

When the 74-year-old Baker retired, Bochy became the oldest manager in the majors. That lasted only a few weeks until the Angels hired Washington. Bochy will turn 69 on April 16, just 13 days before Washington turns 72. Bochy, with 2,093 wins going into his 27th season, is one of six managers with four World Series titles, his first three coming in San Francisco (2010, 2012 and 2014). Washington won a franchise-record 664 games in eight seasons with Texas from 2007-14. He was on Atlanta's staff the past seven years, and part of the Braves' 2021 World Series title.

RELIEF HELP

Several new relievers are in the AL West, including hard-throwing lefty Josh Hader with the Astros, veteran right-hander David Robertson and former All-Star closer Kirby Yates in Texas, Gregory Santos and Ryne Stanek in Seattle and Robert Stephenson with the Angels.

Hader's $95 million, five-year deal was the biggest after becoming a first-time free agent. The 29-year-old, once in the Astros' minor league system, turned down a $20,325,000 qualifying offer from San Diego.

SportsMap Emails
Are Awesome