The Houston Rockets missed Nene against the Spurs

Losing a 34-year-old backup center shouldn’t have impacted the Rockets like it did against the Spurs, but it was a sign of their roster’s inherent limitations. Houston did a nice job this season in building a group of players to complement James Harden’s strengths, adding floor spacers so that Harden could lean into the “points guard” role Mike D’Antoni carved out for him. Daryl Morey should be in consideration for Executive of the Year, and there’s a good chance that if Nene had not been lost for the playoffs will a left adducter tear after playing just one minute of Game 4 that the Rockets may be preparing for a Game 7.

Houston had a net rating of plus-4.4 with Nene on the court in the series, and were outscored by 6.3 points per 100 possessions when he was off the court. The Rockets’ defensive rebounding rate dropped from 77.6 percent to 68 percent without Nene. The Spurs grabbed 18 offensive rebounds in Game 5, and 14 in Game 6 as they dominated the boards, scoring an average of 17 second-chance points in those games.

Without Nene, D’Antoni adjusted his starting lineup and rotation. Ryan Anderson went from starting stretch-4 to backup center as Eric Gordon slotted into a new three-guard starting unit. That’s giving up six inches to a Spurs team that largely stayed committed to playing two bigs at a time, and San Antonio doubled down on its pound the paint strategy.

In hindsight, it might have been a mistake to take Anderson out of the starting lineup. While he leaves a lot to be desired defensively, he’s still 6-foot-10 and can at least body up with the likes of David Lee and Pau Gasol. Trevor Ariza, who slid over to the power forward spot, didn’t have a chance. D’Antoni may have been better off continuing to start Anderson and using more of Montrezl Harrell, who played just 16 minutes all series. At 6-foot-8, 240 pound Harrell is at least a big body to put out.

But that sort of thinking isn’t how D’Antoni rolls. The answer to every question in D’Antoniville is More offense. With a small lineup, he sought to run Aldridge, Gasol and Lee off the floor. He succeeded at times, too, forcing Gregg Popovich to play a small-ball lineup with Jonathan Simmons at the power forward at times.

That may have worked against a lesser team, but the Spurs are just so darn disciplined defensively. They know what they are willing to give up, and what they want to prevent. What they wanted to prevent was Harden getting to the rim and to the line.

Harden averaged just seven free throw attempts per game in the series, nearly four fewer than his season average. A fewer percentage of his shots came in the restricted area against the Spurs (57.9 percent) than in the regular season (65.5 percent).

Like they did to LeBron James in the 2007 finals, San Antonio baited Harden into shooting from the perimeter (he took an extra 3-pointer per game compared to his season average). It’s not that they didn’t believe he could make shots, but that’s just the lesser of two evils when it comes to Harden. Sometimes the simplicity of making something so binary has a positive effect on the defense.

Had Harden and his teammates made a few more 3-pointers, they could have won this series. That’s the variance they built in with this group, which at their best could have went toe-to-toe with the Warriors. But losing Nene lowered their floor. It made them too vulnerable in the paint, and gave the Spurs a road to winning the series.

Nene will be a free agent this summer. After impressing on a one-year, $2.9 million deal, he’ll likely command a higher salary on the open market (if he doesn’t retire). The Rockets should have the inside track, given his quasi-renaissance of a season, but he’ll be 35 less than a month into next season. Houston might need to find a new Nene.

They’ll have some money to play with, up to $10.8 million if they renounce their cap holds and exceptions, according to spotrac.com. That’ll be more than enough to go get another big body like JaVale McGee, Taj Gibson, Tiago Splitter, Amir Johnson or Willie Reed.

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The Rockets spent last summer and the first part of the season upgrading its perimeter talent. They traded for Lou Williams at the deadline — a good trade — but didn’t address their frontcourt when guys like Nerlens Noel, Jusuf Nurkic, Mason Plumee, Miles Plumlee, Roy Hibbert and Spencer Hawes were dealt.

After these playoffs it’s clear the team, though largely improved from last season, still has holes. They don’t need to go back to the days of Dwight Howard, but they’ll need add some size one way or another.