As the Houston Rockets lose again, we have to understand that everything in this world has its weakness. For Superman, it is Kryptonite. For Samson, it was losing his hair. For Stockton and Malone, it was Jordan and Hakeem.
And for the Houston Rockets, the great, terrifying bane which defeated this team was…the simple backdoor cut. Oh, and general ball movement. When one Golden State Warrior player (Draymond Green) has almost as many assists as the Rockets, you are probably not going to win the game.
Oh, for crying out loud, why am I doing this? Look, it’s New Year’s Eve. Let’s cut to the chase and sum up this game and this season with a few simple images.
A rough representation of how often and how long the Warriors got open tonight, whether through transition or by moving the ball around:
The Rockets’ understanding of where to go on defense and what to do on their frequent switches:
When the Rockets made runs during the second and fourth quarters to tie the game against a Warriors team missing three rotation players (Curry, Barnes, Ezeli) and on the second night of a back to back:
Watching Harden getting beat on backdoor screens and losing track of his man repeatedly:
Watching Andrew Bogut set monstrous screens:
And finally, watching the Rockets tonight (and for much of this season):
Okay, maybe that last one is not true. But as despair gives way to acceptance, Rockets fans should probably accept that things won’t get much better from here, and that we more likely than not will be facing another three months or so of disappointment. This defense is not going to learn to communicate, and until that changes, all the Harden isos in the world will not change a thing.
Happy New Year, everyone.
