5 greatest NBA teams that never won a title
By Jalen Eutsey
2. 2017-18 Houston Rockets
The 2017-18 Houston Rockets were, some might argue, a Chris Paul hamstring injury away from upsetting the Golden State Warriors. Sports are strange. That the Rockets would eventually lose to the Warriors seemed fated. But why? Probably, because of widespread dislike for both Paul and James Harden. Probably because so many of us were waiting with bated breath to point and laugh at two players whose basketball ethos rubs us the wrong way. Paul and Harden are basketball maestros — ultra-skilled, artful and intelligent — but they flop a lot so we root for their demise.
The Rockets finished the regular season with a 65-17 record, best in the league and best in franchise history. They had the league’s best offensive rating at 114.7, the sixth-best defensive rating at 106.1 and the best Simple Rating System score at 8.21. All of these numbers were better than those of the Golden State Warriors, the team they lost to in the Western Conference Finals. The Rockets’ success was no struck of good luck, this was a well-crafted team coming together at the right time.
Paul was something of a new man, taking more 3s (6.5 a game) and roasting people in isolation, while maintaining his reliable mid-range efficiency. He managed to turn into both a force-multiplier for what the Rockets did best — attack in isolation — and a check against their greatest weakness, operating in the mid-range. A year after Harden had been flummoxed by a San Antonio Spurs defense designed to cede shots in the mid-range, the Rockets had a counter. They also had the Most Valuable Player. Harden was named MVP after leading the league in scoring and finishing the year averaging 30.4 points, 5.5 rebounds and 8.8 assists.
Everything had come together, including the defense. Jeff Bzdelik, despite the presence of Harden and Mike D’Antoni, had managed to structure a potent defense — a switch-everything scheme that matched the Warriors’ and managed to frustrate them throughout the series. This could have been Chris Paul’s crowning achievement, his long-overdue trip to the NBA Finals. It was all taken away so cruelly.