SALMAN ALI

The Rockets have to work towards competence before contention

The Rockets have to work towards competence before contention
Chris Paul's absence has hurt the Rockets. Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images

After a surprising 1-4 start, the Houston Rockets have simply looked like a bad basketball team. Gone is the 65-win-juggernaut that took the Golden State Warriors to seven games in the Western Conference Finals. They’ve since been replaced by a team doesn’t seem to have much cohesion on both ends of the floor.

“I just kind of feel like we’re disjointed. I feel like we’re not connected,” Rockets guard Gerald Green said at Rockets’ practice Sunday.

The core of the problem has clearly been their defense. According to NBA.com/stats, the Rockets currently sit with the the league’s fourth worst Defensive RTG. After tearing through the league last season with their switch-everything scheme, the Rockets look fairly directionless with their system this year. It’s possible they’re just less equipped to handle such a scheme as many theorized after losing Trevor Ariza and Luc Mbah a Moute this summer, but the collective buy-in just isn’t there like it was last year.

“I think our communication is not good. We’re not communicating on the defensive end like we should,” said Green when asked what needs to change.

Head coach Mike D’Antoni toyed with the idea of abandoning switching altogether after Houston’s latest loss to the Clippers Friday night before backtracking a few days later. Last season, the Rockets switched with a purpose, the communication was excellent, and they played physical at the rim.

Here is a great video that demonstrates how great the Rockets defense was last year against the Jazz. As you can see, the Rockets ability to switch 1-5 gave teams nightmares as it nearly took away the ability to penetrate completely and forced offenses to take difficult isolation-based shots. The Warriors changed their entire offense from motion-based to isolation solely because Houston’s defense took them out of their system. This year, that discipline hasn’t been there.

“Our defense is just awful. We don’t have any continuity”, said coach D’Antoni Friday night.

To be fair to Houston, they’ve missed time from a lot key contributors. Chris Paul missed two games from suspension, James Harden has to yet to return from a Grade 1-Plus left hamstring strain, James Ennis is recovering from a Grade-2 hamstring strain himself, and Nenê Hilario recently re-aggravated his right calf strain and will be reevaluated in two weeks.

The Rockets are having the rely on rookies like Isaiah Hartenstein and Gary Clark to fill bench roles that were previously occupied by veterans before injuries. That’s a tall order for young players that weren’t expecting to play much this season.

In addition to their defense taking a step back, Houston’s once dependable offense has not been anything to write home about, sitting at 19th in the league as things stand. While it’s certainly worth noting that Harden and Paul have missed time, the Rockets are missing an exorbitant amount of wide open layups and 3-pointers. Per NBA.com/stats, the Rockets are shooting 35.6% (third worst) on wide-open field goals and 32.6% on wide-open threes (fourth worst).

Houston’s spacing takes a huge hit when Michael-Carter Williams is on the floor and it’s glaring. The Rockets are 8.3 points per 100 possessions better on offense when Williams sits. The reason for this is defenders are completely sagging off of him at the three-point line to help on better offensive threats and Williams hasn’t been able to make them pay.

One positive thing that Rockets fans can take away from this start is that it’s unlikely that Eric Gordon continues to play this poorly. Gordon looks like a complete shell of himself right now. In the past two games, he’s averaging 10.5 PPG on 28.9% true shooting with a -20.4 Net RTG. Gordon doesn’t look mentally all the way on the court as he’s passing up open looks, missing layups, and hesitating far too much for a player of his caliber. It’s unlikely this trend continues, but the Rockets will need him to shake out of it quick, as the will need his production the next two games without Harden.

For what it’s worth, the Rockets don’t seem to be too worried about the offensive side of the ball. “We're going to be a really good offense. I'm not worried about that”, says Mike D’Antoni.

“We've just got to work hard for one another defensively and offensively, it'll come,” echoes Gordon at Sunday’s practice.

Until the Rockets fix a lot of their issues, they should not be considered serious championship contenders. For now, Houston should simply strive to be a competitive basketball team. If they achieve competence, the conversation can shift back to contention, but not a moment sooner. We’re only five games in and a lot can happen, but the early returns are extremely discouraging for a team that achieved so much just a season ago.

 

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Can the Texans pull off the upset? Composite Getty Image.

The NFL playoffs are finally here, and the Texans will kick off the postseason by hosting the LA Chargers this Saturday at NRG.

And while the Texans are only 3 point underdogs, the national media is making it seem like Houston has no chance against Justin Herbert and company.

ESPN's Rex Ryan has gone as far as calling the Texans a "bye" week for the Chargers, giving the team no chance to win despite playing at home.

However, the Texans are no stranger to this situation, as they were given little chance to win against the Browns in last year's Wild Card game. And we know how that ended, with the Texans thrashing the Browns 45-14.

It's certainly fair to predict the Chargers will come away with a win this Saturday, they have been playing much better football than Houston in recent weeks.

But it's important to remember that home underdogs have performed well in the Wild Card round. In fact, home underdogs are 16-14 all-time in the Wild Card playoffs, and both home underdogs won last year (Texans, Buccaneers).

Speaking of last year, many credit the Texans defense for securing the win over Cleveland, with two pick sixes in the second half helping to seal the deal.

But the real reason Houston won the game was because of CJ Stroud and the offense. Stroud threw 3 touchdowns before halftime and the team was leading 24-14 with six minutes left in the third quarter. That's when the defense tacked on two interceptions for touchdowns and put the game out of reach. Stroud and the offense also went on to score another TD on a Devin Singletary run.

If Stroud and the offense didn't put so much pressure on Joe Flacco and the Cleveland offense to score, he may not have forced those passes that were picked off.

Now, many will point to the Chargers having the best defense (points allowed) this season, but it's worth noting the Browns had the number one defense (yards allowed) last year as well.

Bulls on Parade

Houston's defense will have its hands full against a strong rushing attack led by JK Dobbins. And Justin Herbert has been terrific this season, spreading the ball around to his top two targets, Ladd McConkey and Quentin Johnston.

Fortunately for the Texans, they are extremely healthy on defense this week. While Jimmy Ward and Jalen Pitre are out for the year, we'll finally get to see linebackers Azeez Al-Shaair and Christian Harris play together for the first time this season.

The defensive line is expected to be at full strength as well, keep in mind Jonathan Greenard was injured and unable to play against the Browns last year.

Outlook on offense

We should see the best possible version of the offensive line this Saturday. We're all aware how many hits Stroud has taken due to poor o-line play. But with Tytus Howard and left guard and Juice Scruggs at right guard, Stroud should have more time to get the passing game going, featuring Nico Collins.

Speaking of the receivers, it's pretty amazing that this receiver group is almost identical to last year's in the Wild Card round. Stroud didn't have Stefon Diggs (on the Bills) or Tank Dell (injured) to throw to last year, either. But he does have one big addition in Joe Mixon this year. Hopefully, they can get Mixon involved in the passing game, and the shuffling of the o-line provides Mixon with some holes to run through.

X-factor

At least there's a possibility newly acquired receiver Diontae Johnson could provide a spark to the offense. Last year John Metchie and Robert Woods were the main targets besides Collins and Dalton Schultz.

What does Vegas think?

The Chargers are favored by 3 and the total is set at 42.5 points

Don't miss the video above as the crew from Texans on Tap previews this week's big game!

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