Chris Paul has been a big addition. Rockets.com
The Rockets notched two more convincing wins against the Timberwolves and Kings, thereby extending their latest winning streak to 10 as they headed into the all-star break. In doing so, they also climbed ahead of Golden State by half a game and now once again own the best record in the league. With the All-Star game acting as a natural pause point for everyone to play catch up now that football season is over, let’s take a moment to examine the season so far.
At 44-13 the Rockets have the best record after 57 games in franchise history. James Harden’s jaw-dropping season has all but sealed his MVP recognition later this summer. Chris Paul’s integration to the team has been nothing short of flawless and integral. Clint Capela’s continued development has proven to be ahead of schedule.
Eric Gordon has been lights out, both on and off the bench as Houston weathered multiple injuries. P.J. Tucker and Luc Mbah a Moute have transformed the Rockets bench from a defensive liability full of young players the year before to a defensive-minded, hungry group of veterans ready to scrap it out with literally anyone.
The Rockets have gone on winning streaks of 6, 14, and (currently) 10, with 25 games to go. They currently rank second in points per game, and twelfth in points allowed. That’s right, the Houston Rockets are playing some of their best defense since Jeff Van Gundy was roaming the side of the court. Their newfound defensive prowess has come from a much improved emphasis on defensive switches during half-court sets.
In the midst of all of this, three of the Rockets’ starters have missed significant time to injuries, and the result has had little effect on the court. Chris Paul has missed 18 games, while James Harden has missed seven and Trevor Ariza has missed 13. The age-old “next man up,” mentality has been employed all season to great success.
Much of that success can be attributed to Eric Gordon’s stellar play, but I would be remiss if I failed to mention the ingenious acquisition of Gerald Green. Signed in late December to fill in due to injuries, local product Green hit the court and seamlessly jelled with Coach Mike D’Antoni’s system. Consider it a savvy move anytime you sign a guy off the streets that goes on to average 13 points per game and 39% from three-point range off the bench.
The Rockets are undefeated at this point against every other team in Texas. Let that sink in. Not only are the beating them, but they’re also doing it by an average of 10 points per game against both teams. Against all currently playoff eligible western conference teams, the Rockets are 12-2.
The point of all this is that the Houston Rockets are playing some of the best basketball Houston has ever seen. And yet, it all accounts for nothing currently because of the elephant in the room:
The Golden State Warriors.
Houston won the regular season series 2-1 against the champs, and just last week wrested the top seed in the conference from their grasp. Rockets general manager Daryl Morey has specifically tailored this team’s personnel to counter everything that the Warriors do, and in so doing created a team that has proven that it can legitimately contend with every other team in the league as a result.
Even with the league’s best record, Morey continued to make moves by signing recently bought out players Brandan Wright and longtime Hawks star Joe Johnson. While Johnson is the better known name, I expect Wright--an athletic center who can swat shots--to be the more impactful signing. The Rockets only real achilles heel rested in the health of Capela, and Morey just brought in a poor man’s version with fresh legs.
But regular season wins and playoff wins are two different things. It would be a foolish to assume that the Warriors won’t switch into a completely different gear when the playoffs begin.
The difference between this season and seasons past is that it’s no longer James Harden shouldering the load by himself and switching into that gear. Not only that, but the addition of Paul has allowed Harden to rest more which should theoretically prevent another recurrence of the flare out that was witnessed during the San Antonio series last season.
I’ve watched all 57 games so far and I can tell you with confidence that yes, a healthy Houston squad has a legitimate shot against the Warriors. With 25 games left in the season, it will be interesting to see just how strong Houston finishes. The Rockets have never posted a 60-win season. With the firepower Houston’s working with now, it’s certainly not out of the realm of possibility.
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After finishing up with the Guardians the Astros have a rather important series for early May with the Seattle Mariners heading to town for the weekend. While it’s still too early to be an absolute must-win series for the Astros, losing the series to drop seven or eight games off the division lead would make successfully defending their American League West title that much more unlikely.
Since their own stumble out of the gate to a 6-10 record the Mariners have been racking up series wins, including one this week over the Atlanta Braves. The M’s offense is largely Mmm Mmm Bad, but their pitching is sensational. In 18 games after the 6-10 start, the Mariners gave up five runs in a game once. In the other 17 games they only gave up four runs once. Over the 18 games their starting pitchers gave up 18 earned runs total with a 1.44 earned run average. That’s absurd. Coming into the season Seattle’s starting rotation was clearly better on paper than those of the Astros and Texas Rangers, and it has crystal clearly played out as such into the second month of the schedule.
While it’s natural to focus on and fret over one’s own team's woes when they are plentiful as they have been for the Astros, a reminder that not all grass is greener elsewhere. Alex Bregman has been awful so far. So has young Mariners’ superstar Julio Rodriguez. A meager four extra base hits over his first 30 games were all Julio produced down at the ballyard. That the Mariners are well ahead of the Astros with J-Rod significantly underperforming is good news for Seattle.
Caratini comes through!
So it turns out the Astros are allowed to have a Puerto Rican-born catcher who can hit a little bit. Victor Caratini’s pedigree is not that of a quality offensive player, but he has swung the bat well thus far in his limited playing time and provided the most exciting moment of the Astros’ season with his two-out two-run 10th inning game winning home run Tuesday night. I grant that one could certainly say “Hey! Ronel Blanco finishing off his no-hitter has been the most exciting moment.” I opt for the suddenness of Caratini’s blow turning near defeat into instant victory for a team that has been lousy overall to this point. Frittering away a game the Astros had led 8-3 would have been another blow. Instead, to the Victor belong the spoils.
Pudge Rodriguez is the greatest native Puerto Rican catcher, but he was no longer a good hitter when with the Astros for the majority of the 2009 season. Then there’s Martin Maldonado.
Maldonado’s hitting stats with the Astros look Mike Piazza-ian compared to what Jose Abreu was doing this season. Finally, mercifully for all, Abreu is off the roster as he accepts a stint at rookie-level ball in Florida to see if he can perform baseball-CPR on his swing and career. Until or unless he proves otherwise, Abreu is washed up and at some point the Astros will have to accept it and swallow whatever is left on his contract that runs through next season. For now Abreu makes over $120,000 per game to not be on the roster. At his level of performance, that’s a better deal than paying him that money to be on the roster.
Abreu’s seven hits in 71 at bats for an .099 batting average with a .269 OPS is a humiliating stat line. In 2018 George Springer went to sleep the night of June 13 batting .293 after going hitless in his last four at bats in a 13-5 Astros’ win over Oakland. At the time no one could have ever envisioned that Springer had started a deep, deep funk which would have him endure a nightmarish six for 78 stretch at the plate (.077 batting average). Springer then hit .293 the rest of the season.
Abreu’s exile opened the door for Joey Loperfido to begin his Major League career. Very cool for Loperfido to smack a two-run single in his first game. He also struck out twice. Loperfido will amass whiffs by the bushel, he had 37 strikeouts in 101 at bats at AAA Sugar Land. Still, if he can hit .225 with some walks mixed in (he drew 16 with the Space Cowboys) and deliver some of his obvious power (13 homers in 25 games for the ex-Skeeters) that’s an upgrade over Abreu/Jon Singleton, as well as over Jake Meyers and the awful showing Chas McCormick has posted so far. Frankly, it seems unwise that the Astros only had Loperfido play seven games at first base in the minors this year. If McCormick doesn’t pick it up soon and with Meyers displaying limited offensive upside, the next guy worth a call-up is outfielder Pedro Leon. In January 2021 the Astros gave Leon four million dollars to sign out of Cuba and called him a “rapid mover to the Major Leagues.” Well…
Over his first three minor league seasons Leon flashed tools but definitely underwhelmed. He has been substantially better so far this year. He turns 26 May 28. Just maybe the Astros offense could be the cause of fewer Ls with Loperfido at first and Leon in center field.
Catch our weekly Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast. Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and I discuss varied Astros topics. The first post for the week generally goes up Monday afternoon (second part released Tuesday) via YouTube: stone cold stros - YouTube with the complete audio available via Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.