1. Houston Rockets
The Houston Rockets might not win this year’s NBA championship, but they’ve done everything in their power to be considered the best team heading into the playoffs.
At 65-17, they had six more wins than any other team in either conference, ensuring they’ll have home-court advantage throughout the NBA Finals if they advance that far. They led all teams in point differential (plus-8.5) and net rating (plus-8.5). Not only did they finish the regular season with the NBA’s second-best offensive rating (112.2), but they also wound up sixth defensively (103.8).
In the 45 games where James Harden, Chris Paul and Clint Capela shared the floor with one another, the Rockets went 42-3. That three-man lineup outscored opponents by 12.1 points per 100 possessions, one of the best marks of any trio that played at least 700 minutes this season.
Harden and Paul are the head of the Houston hydra, but a cadre of role players help round out this Rockets monster. Trevor Ariza, Eric Gordon, Ryan Anderson and Gerald Green provide the three-point pop, while Capela is a rim-protecting menace on the interior. P.J. Tucker, Luc Mbah a Moute and Joe Johnson are each versatile enough to play on the wings or as small-ball 4s, giving head coach Mike D’Antoni no shortage of options from which to choose while matching up with any given opponent.
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Houston’s biggest concern may be the dislocated right shoulder Mbah a Moute suffered Tuesday. According to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle, the Rockets had gone 26-4 since Mbah a Moute returned in mid-January from a similar injury he suffered earlier this season. If he misses the same amount of time to recover from this latest setback, he may not be back until the conference finals, as Tim Bontemps of the Washington Post noted.
Mbah a Moute’s injury would throw a wrench into Houston’s chances against a full-strength Warriors team in the Western Conference Finals. Until then, the Rockets’ depth and All-Star talent atop the roster should make them a near-lock to advance beyond the first two rounds, helping Paul shed that ignominious label from his career resume.
Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com or Basketball Reference.