Three Reasons Why The Rockets Won't Work

NBA Basketball is back, and the bubble concept has proven to work as advertised. So far, the team that has me fascinated the most is the Houston Rockets. I’ve watched both of Houston's games in the NBA restart so far. The Rockets are an extremely entertaining team to watch.

However, I’m not altogether convinced that the Rockets can advance deep into the playoffs; after three days of bubble games, I’m going to give you three reasons why.

1. Defense.

Before the bubble games started, Mike D’Antoni was asked by a reporter if he would try and coach while maintaining six feet of separation from players as apart of the U.S. guidelines for social distancing. D’Antoni responded by saying, “That’s how we guard, anyways.” Obviously that was meant to be a joke, but there’s some truth to that statement.

The Rockets don’t really seem to try and play defense until it matters. The Mavericks were able to score 85 points against Houston in one half. That is absolutely inexcusable. There is no reason why the Rockets should be trailing by double digits after a half that saw Harden score 23 points. Sure, they fixed their defense later in that game.

But the lack of defensive effort in the first half nearly cost the Rockets a victory.

Fortunately for them, Harden missed his second free throw with 3.9 seconds to go, and Robert Covington made an incredible play that is unlikely to be replicable in a similar scenario. Harden even said afterwards that he didn’t miss that shot intentionally. That play by Covington carried the Rockets into overtime and gave Houston the opportunity it needed to win.

Against Milwaukee, their defense was much better. However, I’m still not convinced that the Bucks were playing their hardest, as they are in very comfortable command of the one-seed in the East. Khris Middleton failed to show up in the second half, and only three players for the Bucks played over 30 minutes. Despite the lack of playing time from the Bucks starters, Houston still had to claw their way back into this one and play all of their starters for heavy minutes in order to have a chance to win.

That segues nicely to my next reason why the Houston Rocket's formula just won’t work.

2. Wear and Tear.

Harden and Westbrook are both players that have shown us over time that they will eventually run out of gas in the playoffs. The bubble games - so far - have proven to feature moments of playoff intensity as most teams jostle for seeding. D’Antoni is a coach that will play his star players longer than other teams. That, in my humble opinion, can be costly for the Rockets in the long term.

Relying on Harden and Westbrook is the Rockets identity. Anytime Harden has an off-night, or Westbrook can’t subsist on his own special brand of offensive intensity, the Rockets have a slim chance to win.

Another key to their success is P.J. Tucker, as he is the closest thing to a rim protector the Rockets have. The Rockets are basically forced to play Tucker for heavy minutes game in and game out, and that has me concerned. Tucker saw 40 minutes against the Mavericks, and 38 against the Bucks. If Tucker ends up getting injured, the Rockets have zero chance against any team, which brings me to my next and final point.

3. No Rim Protector

Back before the trade deadline (or maybe even before the season), the Rockets should’ve made a move for a solid rim protector. This is not intended as disrespect towards Tucker, as he is a very solid player. The 6’5” Tucker would be better off playing the power forward position though, as we all know.

Leading up to the bubble, out of all 30 NBA teams the Rockets had logged the least number of minutes from players that stand 6’8” or taller. The Rockets logged only 260 minutes for players of that height. In comparison, the Clippers logged 1,172 minutes for players of that height, while the Lakers logged 2,050 minutes. Clint Capela has been and will continue to be strongly missed by this team.

How has that hurt them? The Rockets were out-rebounded by the Mavericks 55 to 43, and by the Bucks 65 to 36. The Rockets can’t expect playoff success without having a rim protector. There are too many talented teams in the Western Conference that can match the Rockets offensively while also winning the battle on the glass.

Once we see the Nuggets shake off all their rust and get back to playing at full strength (hello, Michael Porter Jr.!), that’s another team that I can see easily beating the Rockets. Nikola Jokic would have an amazing series against them since the Rockets don’t have anyone that could match-up down low.

Conclusion: I think that the Rockets are a highly entertaining team to watch. I don’t have any ill-will against James Harden or Russell Westbrook. I just have a problem with the way that the Rockets are currently constructed, and with the way that they are coached.

I believe that for the three reasons that I mentioned, the Rockets will not have any real chance of reaching this year's NBA Finals.