6 replies to this topic

[Red94]

New post: Houston Rockets 103, Dallas Mavericks 94: Round Two
By: Paul McGuire

The Houston Rockets beat the Dallas Mavericks.

 

I don’t really know what to say. It’s been such an up and down season. Having an actual defense. The injuries. Harden taking another leap to a true superstar. The injuries. Motiejunas becoming useful. The injuries. Josh Smith, the good. Josh Smith, the bad.

 

And now, the Houston Rockets have beaten the Dallas Mavericks. Not so much with Harden heroics but with solid, real team defense that was not there last year. And the result turned out to be so much different from last year.

 

I don't actually believe that old phrase of "defense wins championships". A NBA team needs both to win, not just one or the other. Every championship team since 2000 outside a few quirky exceptions has been a top 10 offensive and defensive team.

 

But defense won tonight's game, and thus the series. Sure, Houston did have problems in transition and let the Mavericks grab 23 fastbreak points. But the Mavericks had no idea what to do in the half court game.

 

Some of that could just be attributed to Dirk's rapid decline. Dirk missed a lot of shots which he would have made four years ago, and we all know that he cannot guard anyone anymore. This may be his final playoff game as Oklahoma City returns next year and the Pelicans rise. Whatever your feelings about Dallas, the Mavericks, and Mark Cuban, you have to respect Dirk. I think he is one of the 20 greatest players in NBA history.

 

But it is not 2011, and Trevor Ariza and Terrence Jones stayed with Dirk. Some Rockets had poorer shooting nights than others, but no one had a bad defensive night. Harden made a crucial steal at the end of the game. Pablo Priginoni drew a charge on Al-Farouq Aminu, who apparently becomes the fusion of LeBron James and Kyle Korver when he plays the Rockets. Even Jason Terry got in a blocked shot.

 

And at the center of it all was Dwight Howard. Howard played 39 minutes tonight, the most of any Rocket. It's great to see him terrorize any Maverick near the rim, or catch passes from Harden or "fellow AAU teammate" Josh Smith ( Marv Albert must have mentioned that tidbit a thousand times tonight.) But the best part is that McHale appears to be confident enough in Dwight's health to give him proper playoff minutes. Hopefully, Howard can stay on the court throughout Round 2 and be as monstrous as he was against Dallas.

 

On offense, no a "big four" of Smith-Howard-Jones-Harden carried Houston throughout the game. Houston did try to pass the ball around to the open three-point shooter, but the best option became "give the ball to Harden and just let him distribute." Jones and Smith took advantage of Dirk's horrible defense throughout the game and had a great time in transition, while Dwight Howard was just too heavy for Chandler. It is one of the few times where working Howard in the post becomes a sound offensive strategy.

 

While Smith, Howard, and Jones were all effective on the field, the free throw line was a different matter. The Rockets as a team started off hitting just 1 of their first 11 free throws. Carlisle employed Hack-a-Smith/Howard a few times throughout the game. Dwight and Smith failed to be accurate enough to deter hacking, but Houston managed to stay alive during that stretch with their strong half court defense. If Houston draws the Spurs for Round 2 (as seems to be more likely), Popovich will hack more often than Rick Carlisle did or Doc Rivers will.

 

And now one observation: At the end of the day, I do believe that this is Houston's best chance to win a title in the near future. Yes, the Warriors are looming over everything else, ready to swamp every other team on their path to basketball dominance. But Memphis, Cleveland, Chicago, and so many other teams are vulnerable thanks to injuries. And while Howard has been terrific this year, that knee is a bomb which can go off at any second.

 

A championship windows can open and close shut with the slightest change. But for now, the Rockets can sit back and enjoy this wonderful victory. For the first since 2009, they are in the second round of the NBA playoffs. And that is good enough - for now.

[thejohnnygold]

Well, that is about the least excited one could be about beating one of our in-state rivals and advancing to the 2nd round of the NBA playoffs in a season that will go down as one of the toughest of all time.  We have avoided the "failure" tag for about 60% of our fan base so far.  Yay!

 

Josh Smith (the good), averaged 17 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, and .8 blocks and steals per game in 25 mpg.  That's a per36 average of 24.5 points, 9 rebounds, 5.3 assists, and 1.1 blocks and steals....and he did it shooting 51.5% overall and 39.1% from deep.  Oh, and there was defense.

 

Much of this can be attributed to Dirk's defense, but Jones did not fair as well as Smith on a per36.  Josh was very good for us....not as good as Dwight though!!!!

 

How many times have we heard 2011 Orlando Dwight?  (I guess we can add one more to that now)  According to basketball-reference.com, he's back.  Dwight posted a 30.4 DRB%, a hair short of (you guessed it!) 2011's 30.8%.  ORB%?  12.4 this season vs. 12.3 in 2011.  This is his highest overall rebounding % since 2009.  (solely looking at playoffs).

 

He is shooting 79% from 0-3 feet and 61% overall.  More importantly, 64% of his shots were assisted and 36.6% of his shots were dunks.  Good stuff.

 

Oh, and the adage about defense winning championships isn't saying defense alone wins championships.  Especially in the NBA, it means that every team in the league can score the ball--even the worst of them.  The ones who excel play defense and the ones who win championships do both very well.  Sure, there are exceptions, but they prove the rule.

 

James Harden said as much in his post game interview LINK.

 

Also, Angry Mavs Fan has a farewell message for us Rockets fans: (NSFW and you might want to turn down the volume) LINK

 

Looking forward to the next round!!! 

[RocketMan]

Good win that follows along how the regular season matchups went. I always knew Dallas could beat Houston on a bad night, but 3 out of 4 games you can pretty much guarantee a Rockets win. Now the next round... I can't quite feel as confident, especially since both LAC and SAS have a tendency to flip that switch for big games in a way that Dallas can't.

[majik19]

If Howard can keep rolling like he is, then I really do think we have a legitimate shot. This version of Howard suddenly becomes the 3rd best player in a Warriors-Rockets series (yes - better than Thompson or Draymond Green). 

 

The defense was really, really good last night. A few breakdowns for sure, but overall, very good. 

 

And man did T. Jones come alive in the 4th quarter! Where did that come from!? 

 

Also, our chances of winning the 2nd round may have improved last night. Tony Parker is clearly hobbled, and apparently Blake Griffin is having back problems. I wonder if we did play the Clippers, could we get two old school guys (McHale and Rivers) to have a handshake deal and not foul the other's worst FT shooter? I can imagine them fouling Smith/Howard/Capela and us turning around and fouling Jordan.

 

It was really nice when we got the offensive board off a Dwight miss and Harden hit the 3. Take that, Hack-a-Whoever!

[txtdo1411]

I wonder if we did play the Clippers, could we get two old school guys (McHale and Rivers) to have a handshake deal and not foul the other's worst FT shooter? I can imagine them fouling Smith/Howard/Capela and us turning around and fouling Jordan.

 

I was thinking this same thing! haha Just an unspoken agreement between the two that they will allow the game to be played as it was intended, and not come down to a free throw shooting challenge. Unfortunately I think the Spurs are going to win the series, therefore we will see 40+ FTs every night. 

 

As for the Mavs series, I am just glad we were able to put them away last night. The Mavs post Rondo were an extremely dangerous offensive team. They decided, starting with game 3, that they were going to make every game a track meet, and try to outscore us. It worked in game 4, and I was a little afraid of game 5, but our defense was much much better. They really didn't score much in the half court, and Dwight continued to absolutely dominate the paint. He is going to be huge the next series, especially if it is against the Spurs. They don't have anyone that can come close to matching up with his size and strength. I wish Ariza could find his shooting stroke again. Our offense flows so much better when he is hitting his outside shots. 

 

It feels great to be in the 2nd round again! Being younger, and not really becoming a diehard fan until 1999, this is essentially the second playoff series I have gotten to see us come away victorious. It feels great. We have an extremely talented and cohesive team, and I'm excited for what is still to come!

[rocketrick]

Even though the Rockets won their first round matchup against Portland in 2009, I consider this year the first time since 1997 that the Rockets have made it past the first round with a legitimate chance to go deep into the playoffs and possibly win a trophy.

If you recall, in 2009 McGrady suffered a season ending injury and Yao Ming fractured his foot early in the 2nd round in LA. Still, the Rockets battled bravely against Kobe's Lakers but obviously were undermanned and realistically never had a chance. Unfortunately none of the Rockets players from that 2009 series vs. the Lakers are still with us today and of course the coaches have changed, too.

I personally don't have a preference one way or the other who the Rockets play next. It doesn't really matter, like James Harden and Dwight Howard said last night, what really matters is how well the Rockets play going forward, not who they play, that will determine how far they go in the playoffs this season.

The Rockets really need to find a way to keep Josh Smith and Corey Brewer on the roster going forward into next season and beyond. I believe Brewer still has 1 year left on his contract. I believe the Rockets have finally turned the corner on which players are the foundation of this team. The core group going forward has to be James Harden, Dwight Howard, Trevor Ariza, Terrance Jones, Donatas Motiejunas, Josh Smith and Corey Brewer. Clint Capela and Nick Johnson should be allowed more time to develop. In my opinion, the Rockets should also re-sign Patrick Beverley. Whether Beverley starts next season or is one of the energy guys off the bench will work itself out. I think he is deserving of being one of the core group members going forward.

[majik19]

If you recall, in 2009 McGrady suffered a season ending injury and Yao Ming fractured his foot early in the 2nd round in LA. Still, the Rockets battled bravely against Kobe's Lakers but obviously were undermanned and realistically never had a chance. Unfortunately none of the Rockets players from that 2009 series vs. the Lakers are still with us today and of course the coaches have changed, too.

I know we didn't have a chance, but I'll never forget Aaron Brooks absolutely destroying the Lakers in that series. 

 

I don't know if we'll be able to keep Smith and Brewer. I really like them on this team, but Daryl Morey has always shown the ability to fill in the edges around a roster and I have faith he could do it in the future. We've thought the same things in past years with Carl Landry, Chuck Hayes, Courtney Lee, Chase Budinger, etc. Obviously Smith and Brewer are better than a lot of those guys (I would argue our version of Carl Landry was about as good as Smith overall, and Courtney Lee is still very good and may be as good as Brewer). 

 

Just to be clear, I do want Brewer and Smith back. Just not sure we'll be able to hold on to them and I'm ok with that. 

Edited by majik19, 29 April 2015 - 10:34 PM.