The Houston Rockets are not playing well this season. Despite the appearance of a small turnaround since JB Bickerstaff took over as coach for Kevin McHale, the same problems that crippled this team early in the season are re-appearing. Last night, at least, the offense showed up, building a lead that reached 19 points in the 3rd quarter. However, in typical Rockets’ fashion, they took their feet off of the gas pedal and did not bury their opponent. In the end, the game really should not have been close.
If you watched the game, you know that the Rockets had James Harden guarding Kyle Korver… ummmmm that’s a mismatch without a doubt. If Korver had hit one of the many wide open threes he had in the waning minutes of the 4th quarter, the Hawks would not have had to resort to hack a Dwight and Capela and would have won comfortably.
The scary thing for the Rockets is that they played a phenomenal game offensively, probably their most complete game on that end all season. Dwight had a season high, Ty Lawson decided to show up and played efficiently, shooting a high percentage and dishing out four assists. Harden had a typical Harden night scoring and assisting with ease. As has been the case in recent years, Houston becomes way too reliant on James in the fourth quarter. Isolations where everyone on the court and in the stands know what is coming will not work in the NBA, yet in two seasons the Rockets have not changed a thing. As a fan, I’d love to see Ty Lawson dribble around, use his quickness to create space for a shot, or force the defense to help so that others will help and give a teammate an open look. Ball movement is non-existent for the Rockets in the fourth quarter. Though it is easier said than done, the Rockets should try to let Harden play off of the ball a little bit more in crunch time and let others create shots for him. Sure, every once in a while, he can go isolation, but it isn’t necessary on every single possession. If this continues, even though it sounds crazy, Harden needs to go, or the Rockets need to trade their point guards and instead make Harden the point guard since that’s pretty much what he is doing already. It might be a little crazy, but a starting lineup of Dwight, Capela, D-Mo(at the 3), Ariza, and Harden could do some good things.
Regardless, something needs to change or the Rockets could very well lose most, if not all, of their next 7 games, depending on which team shows up to play.