- As you all are aware, the Rockets were embarrassed again last night, on their home floor, dropping to 0-2. This is not how anyone was expecting to start the season. They’ll get better, with time, but there are some serious systemic problems, flowing over from last year, and really the entire McHale era, that will need to be addressed.
- The spacing has been dreadful. This goes back to the ironic matter that for a team so heavily dependent on the three-pointer, the Rockets don’t really have good shooters that other teams have to guard. This was compounded by the fact, last night, that Terrence Jones and Dwight Howard essentially clogged the paint, in Jones’ case, providing nothing of any utility. It’s a domino effect: Harden drives the lane, kicks out to a shooter who misses the shot. On the next trip down, the lane is even more clogged with defenders, making it even more difficult for Harden to finish.
- The antidote here, as I wrote last night at the half, would be movement. Instead of standing around and watching Harden dribble the ball, any sort of action off the ball would at least make the defense react. This hits home at a fundamental problem plaguing the Rockets. They’re going to get hot from the outside one of these games and all will be right in the world. But the shots won’t always fall, as evidenced by these past two games, especially with mediocre shooters. The Rockets need ways to generate points in those situations, especially against smart defenses. There are good passers here; a simple backdoor cut would go a long way.
- As I’ve been writing, we still have yet to see Lawson and Harden involved together in the same play. There’s tons of potential here, especially with the kinds of finishers the team has in its frontcourt. I’d kill to see advanced actions with Harden attacking the defense off an initial pick and roll, misdirecting, and handing off to Lawson to set up a second motion. That would really force defenses into difficult decisions. Right now, as I wrote last night, Lawson has been relegated to a spectator when sharing the floor with Harden.
- For his part, Lawson hasn’t been as ineffective as his numbers would indicate. He’s created some nice looks with Harden on the bench. But that’s the problem – he’s way too good to be just a backup point guard. It will be up to McHale to find a way to make those two players work, when playing together.
- Terrence Jones, again, completely crapped the bed, before having his night mercifully ended by Steph Curry. Aside from the offensive ineptitude, which was on clear display, he blew countless rotations, even once drawing Dwight’s ire after failing to box out upon a Dwight shot-block attempt. There’s little point in Dwight trying to challenge shots at the rim if his teammates won’t bother to have his back after the shot is missed. This isn’t to say that Donatas Motiejunas is some panacea for this team. But Jones’ play thus far has underscored how much we all collectively underestimated the impact of Motiejunas’ injury.
