Small as hell Ball!
The lasting image of the two Rockets stars as we get into April and May is always one of disappointment and anguish. Harden and Westbrook, once again on the same team, are looking to change those fortunes of playoff despair and make it to The Finals. Yet, they don’t have a damn center! How the hell are they to win the west, when damn near all of the good centers are in this conference. Well, I guess they are trying this thing where they put…Westbrook at center.
Last game they played against the Utah Jazz, the Rockets made it so that the opposing center had to guard Westbrook, being that he is the only one on the court who usually isn’t at the three-point line. With him holding the ball and dribbling in and out of the paint, the opposing teams center isn’t going to run to the tree point line, which makes the lane easier for teams to score easy layups, so they guard Westbrook. The Rockets are betting that Westbrook is going to win that matchup and make it so the opposing team has to take their center off the court, which will then make Hardens job a lot easier. No center guarding the paint, with his ability to blow by people will lead to easy layups and drive and kick threes. Which if you haven’t noticed, the Rockets entire game plan.
If you looked at a Rockets box score recently and I don’t know why you haven’t done so, you will find something interesting. The Rockets are able to find Harden rest, while playing during the season. The biggest knock on Harden every year during playoff time is his lack of explosiveness during the playoffs. Not being able to play the way we are accustomed to seeing him play during the regular season. The team is allowing Westbrook to take control of the team and the evidence of this is his increased FGA (Field Goal Attempts/ per game). They have gone up for Westbrook just as Hardens have gone down over this three-month period. Small little changes like this should help the Rockets out in the long run to keep Harden at peak effectiveness.
December
38.5 MPG / 24.6 FGA- Harden
37.9 MPG / 23.9 FGA- Westbrook
January
35.8 MPG / 21.6 FGA- Harden
37.7 MPG / 25.3 FGA- Westbrook
February
36.6 MPG/ 20.4 FGA- Harden
37.0 MGP/ 28.3 FGA- Westbrook
Do not think that other teams don’t see what the Rockets are doing, with this small as hell ball. In Toronto’s most recent game against the T-Wolves, the jump ball was against Karl-Anthony Towns and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson. Both players 7’0 and 6’6. The score was 18-9 with the Raptors having the lead before the first Timeout was called. The Raptors went on to win that game 137- 126 with Towns +/- being -7 and Hollis-Jefferson +/- being +20, with both players playing more than 34 minutes. With the Rockets upcoming schedule not really having any good centers to play until the play Utah again after the All-Star break, it will be interesting to see how other teams adjust to the Rockets and more importantly, the Rockets are going to do against them.