Why have the Houston Rockets struggled early on this season?
Watch Golden State Warriors @ Houston Rockets live on Sky Sports Arena on Thursday night
Friday 16 November 2018 06:25, UK
The Houston Rockets came within one game of reaching last season's NBA Finals but they have struggled from the outset of the current campaign.
As they prepare to face their Western Conference finals conquerors the Golden State Warriors - a game you can watch live on Sky Sports Arena at 1am on Friday morning - once more, we examine the reasons behind their early season travails.
Live NBA: Golden State @ Houston
Offensive output
Last season the Rockets were an offensive juggernaut, taking and making the most three-pointers in the league on their way to scoring 112.4 points per game, the second-highest mark in the league.
This term they are still leaning heavily on the three-ball but making less, resulting in their three-point field goal percentage falling to a below-league average 32.9 per cent.
Their key scoring threats - James Harden, Chris Paul and Eric Gordon - have all struggled with their shooting. Paul's field goal percentage this season is 41.9 (he shot 46 per cent last year). Harden is shooting with 42 per cent success compared to 44.9 per cent last year. Gordon's three-point shooting has fallen off a cliff, dropping from 35.9 per cent to a woeful 23.5.
The result, the Rockets are scoring nine fewer points per game (103.2) at a time when the rest of the league is going through an early-season scoring boom.
Key defensive departures
One reason the Rockets were able to run the Warriors so close in the Western Conference finals was the high-intensity defense they were able to play.
Jeff Bzdelik, the associate coach responsible for those displays, retired in the summer to attend to family issues. With the Rockets struggling, their old defensive guru has been coaxed out of retirement and will rejoin the team after Thanksgiving.
He will, however, have a different roster with which to work. Veterans Trevor Ariza and Luc Mbah a Moute, whose length and physicality threatened to disrupt Golden State's offensive finesse, left in the summer and have not been adequately replaced.
James Ennis, who played in Detroit last year and in Memphis before that, is yet to make any significant contribution. Their other summer acquisition, Carmelo Anthony, is a defensive liability and has been picked on by opposition offenses whenever he has been on the court.
The Melo problem
As outlined earlier, the Rockets' offensive struggles have been a team-wide issue. That hasn't stopped veteran Carmelo Anthony becoming something of a scapegoat for those problems.
Melo, an elite scorer in his prime, will be a Hall of Fame player when his career is over. But the sad truth is he is a ghost of the player he used to be.
Following an anaemic offensive 1-of-11 shooting performance in a horrible 98-80 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, Anthony was ruled out with what the Rockets described as an "illness" although it was later reported his team-mates don't expect to play with him again. It is thought he will remain out of action until his representatives can find him a new team.
Whatever happens with Melo, his acquisition was not the boost the Rockets were hoping for. Unable to give them a consistent scoring punch off the bench or as a starter, his ball-dominant, inefficient game ultimately hindered rather than helped the Rockets.
Lack of continuity
One reason the Rockets have for optimism is the fact that injuries have prevented head coach Mike D'Antoni from fielding his best line-up consistently over the opening 13 games.
Harden missed three games due to a hamstring injury, two of which resulted in blowout defeats. Paul was absent for two (losses to the Clippers and Jazz) while Gordon has missed three games, one of which was the humbling loss against Oklahoma City.
All three players have played 31 minutes or more in Houston's last two games, victories against the Indiana Pacers and the Denver Nuggets. Harden poured in 40 points against Indiana, then scored 19 second-half points to guide them to victory in the Mile High City, the first time they have beaten a Western Conference team with a winning record all year.
The Rockets' recent improvement will be put to a true test when they host the Warriors on Thursday night.
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