A quick and digestible look at the most top-of-mind Rockets news of the past few days. 

Houston Chronicle. Lakers can’t handle James Harden as Rockets cruise in L.A.

“As James Harden toyed with his hometown team, setting up teammates for open looks and taking a few for himself, Harden’s greatest challenge seemed to be deciding between all the ways he had to tear through the Lakers’ defense…”

NBC Sports. Did win over Lakers break Rockets out of defensive slump?

“…The obvious answer for why it looked better Sunday is that the Lakers — especially now without Kobe Bryant— are an unfocused disaster on offense. They lack quality shot creators or anyone you have to fear. Of course, the Rockets saw it as something more than that, as a springboard for themselves to get back to their identity. And when you asked any Rockets’ player about the improved defense they used some variant of the word “focus,” adding they had to do it more consistently…

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We’re in the midst of the most exciting NBA season in years.  The TrueHoop Network has it covered.

• Which is less likely: a fifty point explosion or a 20/20 with assists?  Aaron McGuire at Gothic Ginobili takes a deep statistical look at the respective likelihoods of Brandon Jennings’ two substantially different career-best games.
• Forum Blue & Gold assesses the Lakers’ trade assets; also, an exploration of real versus perceived value.
• Will Brook Lopez be dealt?  Brooklyn’s Finest with a discussion.
• What was the best team of the George Karl era?  Roundball Mining Company reflects back, with implications.
• Clipperblog has a post mortem of the Austin Rivers trade.
• Rudy Gobert has been surprisingly effective passing the basketball, per Salt City Hoops.
• Cowbell Kingdom takes aim at the team over the firing of Mike Malone.
• People are starting to rethink whether the Love-Wiggins trade was the right move.  Cavs the Blog provided its own regrade of the trade.
• Bucksketball looks in on the Milwaukee Bucks’ shot selection.
• “Toronto’s style and effectiveness have dwindled over the past few weeks as their pace has quickened,” writes Raptors Republic.
• Hoop76 muses that while the Sixers might be better without Tony Wroten, they’ll also be more boring.
• Elfrid Payton is the Magic’s most important player, writes Magic Basketball.
• From Queen City Hoops: what kind of “lady” would the All-Star game be?
• Bourbon Street Shots notes that Eric Gordon has been playing far better than he had been before his labrum tear.

Stats are a weird thing.

One argument that critics make of James Harden is that he does not possess the midrange game which is crucial for a championship team. He just depends on three-pointers and drawing fouls, which makes him predictable and means he can be shut down in the playoffs. And when one looks at Harden’s shooting numbers, this year is not that different from last year. In fact, Harden is shooting 34% from 16 feet to the three-point line this year in contrast to 41% last year.

But this does not match up at all with what I have seen this year. Harden has developed a mid-range game, and he uses it more than ever. The stepback mid-range jumper is another weapon in his arsenal and is why his scoring has increased even though Harden is not actually not drawing fouls at the same rate as previous seasons ( While Harden draws as many free throws as he did last season, you have to remember that he dominates the ball more compared to last year). Tonight, Harden took on PJ Tucker, a defender who has given him fits in the past, scored 33 points, and rose up to drain the classic mid-range game winner. New-style money ball, meet old-style classic ball.

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All you really need to know about last night’s season-series sweeping win for Golden State over Houston was that the Rockets starters had an average plus/minus of about -27, the Warriors +26.  And it wasn’t even that close.

The Rockets turned the ball over more, shot worse, and played with less conviction/composure.  The Warriors’ have now posted the two highest scoring totals the Rockets have allowed this season (131 & 126), and their 40 point third quarter was the most points a team has put up on Houston in any quarter this season.  James Harden’s 33 points hide the fact that he wasn’t able to dictate much except from the free throw stripe.  Josh Smith’s double tech-ejection makes you forget the nice alley-oops he threw Dwight Howard.  And nothing Pat Beverley or Trevor Ariza did could slow down Steph Curry or Klay Thompson.

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