Basketballghana.com staff writer Yaw Adjei-Mintah looks at the reasons for Houston Rockets indifferent start to the 2015-2016 NBA season.
By Yaw Adjei-Mintah
Houston-the oil capital of the world- is no stranger to undulating fortunes as it hosts a bevy of multi-billion dollar companies that deal in the black gold. The little I know of oil trading is the smallest trigger in the strait of Homus will inevitably spike prices of the commodity all over the world. Such is the precarious nature of doing business with the worlds most sought after liquid.
Just under seven months ago, the Houston Rockets were in the Western Conference Finals for the first time since 1995 in the NBA playing against the title favorites Golden State Warriors. They lost the playoff series 1-4 succumbing to the sheer might of Golden State’s deep roster that went on to win the championship for the first time in 40 years. Fast forward to the commencement of the 2015-2016 NBA season and last year’s Conference finalists are struggling.
After falling 111-95 to the rebuilding Boston Celtics, the Rockets sit 11th on the Western Conference standings with four wins and seven defeats from 11 games played this season. In these games, the Rockets have lost to a Brooklyn Nets side that prior to tip off, were winless after seven games and lost to a Dallas Mavericks side without current and future Franchise cornerstones Dirk Nowitzki, Chandler Parsons and Wesley Matthews respectively.
What is missing from the Rockets of last season and this season is the lack of consistency. Houston opened the season with three straight losses including one against reigning champions Golden State but recorded four wins in similar fashion to down Conference rivals Los Angeles Clippers during the winning streak. The streak didn’t last long though as they have dropped three straight games since then.
Consistency has been an issue for the Rockets all season long. In need of answers, Coach Kevin McHale is open to new ways of getting his team out of their funk including shaking up the roster. When asked about changes to the starting lineup, McHale in an interview with ClutchFans, suggested “There are a lot of things we got to do right now” “Yeah, that could be one of them.”
To be fair to the Rockets, additions to the roster from last season have brought the inevitable growing pains to the team. In the offseason, Nick Johnson, Kostas Papanikolaou, Joey Dosrsey, Pablo Prigioni and a future second round draft pick were traded to the Denver Nuggets for controversial Point Guard Ty Lawson.
The six year veteran came to Houston as a top 15 Point Guard in the league but was undesired by teams in need of an excellent distributor and scorer because of issues off court. Lawson had been charged with driving under the influence of alcohol on two separate occasions during his time with the Nuggets. In 11 games played Ty has barely looked comfortable. For the season, he is averaging nimble shooting numbers of 31.9 percent from the field and 28.1 percent from 3-point range. Before losing to Boston, Lawson’s contributions have been mediocre and inefficient. Per CBS Sports, here is hoe Lawson has performed in his four previous games.
Nov. 14 vs. Dallas: 7 points, 5 assists, 2 rebounds, 2 turnovers, 3-for-8 FG, 1-for-4 3PT.
Nov. 13 at Denver: 0 points, 7 assists, 0 rebounds, 1 turnover, 0-for-7 FG, 0-for-2 3PT.
Nov. 11 vs. Brooklyn: 8 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds, 1 turnover, 3-for-11 FG, 0-for-2 3PT.
Nov. 7 vs. Clippers: 6 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, 0 turnovers, 2-for-11 FG, 0-for-3 3PT.
Aside Lawson, the Rockets roped in Marcus Thornton and drafted Power Forward Montrezl Harrell in this year’s draft.
Injuries have also played a major role in preventing the Rockets from developing any kind of team chemistry in the early part of the season. Starting Center Dwight Howard has had to sit out of second games on back-to-back schedules to preserve his body specifically his back from stress and starting Power Forward Terence Jones has missed games due to lacerations on his eyebrows.
Injuries to the frontcourt has meant Coach McHale hand extensive minute to second year Center Clint Capela and rookie Montrezl Harrell because backup Forward Donatas Motiejunas is out for the remainder of the calendar year rehabbing his surgically operated back. Point Guard Patrick Beverley is also out with an ankle injury.
Houston has looked poor on offense this season- according to NBA.com, Houston is making just 29 percent of 3-point shots which is less than the league average of 34.2 percent of 3-point shots. However, the team has been woeful on defense that caused Small Forward Trevor Ariza to say his team was “slacking” and ‘needed to play harder”.
Though Dwight’s presence solves a lot of defensive problems with his ability to challenge and alter shots and provide help to his perimeter defenders, the backcourt combo of James Harden and Ty Lawson has contributed to Houston’s porous defense. Harden and Lawson are hailed around the league for their offensive firepower but not their defense.
On the contrary, both players are regarded as sub-par defenders. In 2013-2014, Youtube videos of Harden’s slack play on defense went viral on the internet. He did improve in that area last season but is still a long way before he can be counted on as a reliable 3 and D.
Lawson’s height-he stands 5feet 11inches- is a disadvantage in today’s NBA, where over sized Point Guards including rookies Emmanuel Mudiay and D’Angelo Russell who both stand at 6 foot 5 inches respectively dominate. Ace on-ball defender Patrick Beverley could have dealt with this problem if he wasn’t out with an ankle injury. According to Synergy Sports, Beverley is in the 85th percentile among all players in on-ball defense. In isolation situations, opponents shoot just 27 percent when Beverley is defending.
The early skirmishes of a new season is normally expected to be not so smooth sailing; think about the Cavaliers contrasting fortunes in the early and latter parts of last season. In time, things will settle down and last season’s Conference finalists can get back to playing at their usual elite level.
