NBA Week 24 Rewind: Who has momentum for the playoffs?
By Tom West
Who’s Struggling?
The Houston Rockets couldn’t have fallen much further from being the Western Conference Finals competitors they were last season. Even though overcoming that 1-3 series deficit in the second round again the Clippers was a freakish occurrence and the collapse of L.A. certainly shares responsibility, they were a far better team than they are this season.
The Rockets ranked 6th in defensive efficiency in 2014-15, an asset that couldn’t have collapsed more this season. With no real chemistry between their star duo of James Harden and Dwight Howard, a common lack of effort and defensive purpose from their smaller lineup, and the general lacklustre environment and reliance on Harden plaguing Houston basketball has them ranked 22nd in the same category.
Rather than the 56-win team they were last season, they fired head coach Kevin McHale and have fared no better with J.B. Bickerstaff, crawling to a 39-41 record with a likely spell of solely watching the playoffs from home on the way.
Regardless of Harden’s offensive talents to lead the team and the ways in which he can take over games at times (he’s played at least 40 minutes in each of the last 10 games), the Rockets simply haven’t been enough to be a worthy playoff team. Howard seems disgruntled no matter what he tells reporters, the bench has little to offer, and Harden’s defense has taken a swift jump off a cliff this season, with almost everyone else following suit.
This was on full display in one of the Rockets’ recent embarrassing losses, this time falling 124-115 to another disaster in the form of the Phoenix Suns.
Bickerstaff cited frustration, not effort, as a problem in the way they’re ‘closing’ out the regular season (per ESPN’s Calvin Watkins):
"“I think there’s a sense of frustration set in a little bit down the stretch,” Bickerstaff said of his team, which has lost seven of its past 10 games. “I won’t say those guys aren’t trying, I won’t say that. It matters to those guys, and it bothers those guys. It stings all of us.”"
Well, call it what you will. Frustration, complacency, lacking effort; they all tick the box.
In the loss to the Suns, en route to somehow allowing 124 points, the Rockets were out-rebounded 46-26, giving up 36 second chance points and 52 points in the paint. Even with Donatas Motiejunas back after missing so much time due to injury early in the season, his 7-foot frame wasn’t nearly enough to bring some size and authority into the Rockets’ interior effort.
In fact, P.J. Tucker, Alex Len and Tyson Chandler alone had more combined rebounds (30) than the entire Rockets team.
Performances like that neatly sum up the nature of the 2015-16 Houston Rockets.
Next: The Best Highlights of Week 24