At the two-thirds points in this season, it is clear that the Rockets just are who they are. They have been complacent for much of the season, and the chemistry which defined this team last year is completely and totally gone, as Jason Terry so kindly observed after this game.
Everyone knows the problems which have afflicted the Rockets at this point. The Portland Trail Blazers are nowhere as talented as the Rockets. But they are better coached, work together, and can actually pass the ball without turning it over. And when the Rockets actually made things close down the stretch, it was a bunch of turnovers which created a Portland run to seal the game.
But how could a team which has remained largely the same collapse in cohesion and teamwork so much? I think the difference is the narratives which surrounded the 2014-15 Rockets as well as the 2015-16 Rockets.
The 2014-15 Rockets had been upset by the Blazers in the first round, then lost Chandler Parsons, Jeremy Lin, and Omer Asik in the offseason. They were a common sleeper pick to miss the playoffs before that season started, especially if Dwight Howard or James Harden got injured. And then Howard did get injured.
The Rockets rallied against those expectations, and then hustled and worked to get as far as they did. The Blazers this season have done the same thing. But after last year’s success, the Rockets and Harden as a whole got complacent and assumed that they would not to work as hard anymore – even while last year’s actual champions took the narrative of “they were just lucky” and used it to push themselves to even higher levels.
There are other issues beyond mere complacency which Rockets fans saw tonight. I don’t get why Coach Bickerstaff moved away from the Capela-Howard starting lineup which the Rockets used for most of this season, and why they are starting Brewer in Capela’s place. Houston has had problems with defensive rebounding all season long, and the Blazers grabbed 16 offensive boards off of their 48 missed shots. It is not like Brewer provides spacing, although he did go 2-4 from the three point line tonight.
Perhaps Bickerstaff thinks that the quicker Brewer can provide some hustle. But if that is the case, then why not Montrezl Harrell? Harrell provides nothing but hustle and a willingness to try which this Houston team has desperately needed all season long. And while Josh Smith was not good tonight ( three three-pointers in six minutes?!), I do think that smallball has not worked for the Rockets. At all. The Rockets have the deficiencies of small ball in that they give up rebounds and lack a presence in the paint without the advantages of better three-point shooting and passing.
And then there is the bench problem. I still think that the Howard-Harden duo can work given the right supporting cast. But it cannot work if the bench is going to be outscored night after night, never mind being outscored 33-17 like they were against the Blazers. When Houston’s best bench scorer is the wildly inconsistent Marcus Thornton, while Meyers Leonard just outbigged whatever Houston threw against him, it is clear that this situation has to change.
There were flashes when Houston actually looked like a good team, such as the beginning of the game or when they made a furious run to come within 5 points of the Blazers. But let us be honest. Even the 76ers have stretches where they look like a professional basketball team. Stretches don’t matter. It is the ability to be consistently good which separates the bad teams from the good, and the good teams from the Warriors. Which does not describe the Houston Rockets at all.
It is what it is. The Houston Rockets are in the 9th seed. And more likely than not, things are going to get worse before they get better.
If they get better, that is.
