[Amico Hoops] Offense-only Rockets are a joy to watch

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Offense-only Rockets are a joy to watch

December 1, 2016


David Morrow
When Mike D’Antoni was brought in as head coach of the Houston Rockets, the move was met with a mixture of excitement and skepticism — both understandable reactions.

The skepticism was certainly warranted; the Rockets weren’t a very good defensive team before. Now, they were heading into the season after losing three-time Defensive Player of the Year Dwight Howard (albeit not the same player he once was). Then they hire a coach who is notorious for poor defense? And sign offense-only players in Ryan Anderson and Eric Gordon? A lot of fans scratched their heads at the management’s decisions.

A lot of other NBA fans, myself included, were enthusiastic about the idea. The way I saw it, the Rockets weren’t going to be an incredible defensive team regardless, so why not double down on offense?

The naysayers have been proven wrong thus far, as the Rockets are absolutely thriving in D’Antoni’s run-and-gun offense. They are off to a great start, having won 11 of their first 18 games, good for fourth in the Western Conference.

Through 18 games last season, the Rockets had won just seven games. D’Antoni was brought to Houston to run an offense-first system that puts defense on the backburner. The 2016-17 Rockets’ philosophy isn’t about stopping opposing teams from scoring so much as it’s about outscoring them. The Rockets shoot a ton of 3-pointers (38 percent of their points come from beyond the arc) and that strategy has been a great success for them.

Of the six players who have made the most three-pointers this season, three of them are on the Rockets: James Harden and Gordon are tied for second behind Stephen Curry (75 makes through Nov. 30) with 55 each, and Trevor Ariza ranks sixth with 52. Sweet-shooting power forward Anderson isn’t too far down the list either; his 45 threes are tied for the 13th-most.

Gordon, who is shooting 38.7 percent from beyond the arc, has appeared in all 18 games for the Rockets, starting in eight of them. He’s a crucial piece to this Houston team. By staggering his minutes with Harden’s, D’Antoni can assure that the Rockets have an elite-level scorer (who is also capable of setting up opponents for easy looks) with the ball in his hands at nearly all times.

Harden, of course, is the key to this system. It’s rare to have a player so good that you can build a successful system around him, and Harden is that sort of offensive talent.

He is an incredibly fun player to watch, and a very dangerous one to defend. He’s as much of a scoring threat with the ball in his hands as any other player in the league. His offense is a work of art; he’s an exquisite ball-handler who is equally as likely to blow by a defender and score at the rim (and probably draw a foul while he’s at it) as he is to make a defender look silly with a gorgeous stepback jumper.
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