[SI] Close look at the Rockets -- can they excel in playoffs?

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Close look at the Rockets -- can they excel in playoffs?

5 Views of the Houston Rockets


The Rockets needed some time early in the season to adjust to the read-and-react offense of coach Rick Adelman (above).
Jeff Lewis/Icon SMI

5. Their system. The rookie general manager hired the longtime coach last summer to make the Rockets unpredictable and dangerous offensively. "We were,'' GM Daryl Morey noted, "an average offensive team last year.''

Yet they remained, through the first half, an average offensive team this year. This, too, was no surprise to Morey. "Former players for coach [Rick] Adelman said that it can take more than a year,'' he said of the learning curve to Adelman's read-and-react offense. "We were hoping to shortcut that because we have veteran guys with high basketball IQs, but the transition for us still took longer than we hoped.''

It could not have been easy, after years of running plays to the precise choreography of Jeff Van Gundy. Adelman wasn't telling them what to do during the game so much as he was expecting all five Rockets to notice the same defensive keys and react to them. They didn't understand the nuances well enough to exploit them.

"You can get into habits where you're running the same things -- handoffs and options out of it -- that make you easier to guard,'' Morey said.

That's one of the reasons why Morey dealt Bonzi Wells and Mike James to the Hornets on Feb. 21 for Bobby Jackson, who had played in Sacramento for Adelman and would now provide Houston with a backup point guard who understood the offense thoroughly. After a 24-20 start, the Rockets had won nine in a row at the time of Jackson's arrival. That they were winning appears to have taken them by surprise.

4. The starting point guard. Rafer Alston appeared to have a horrible summer. In August, he was charged with stabbing a man at 3 a.m. in a Manhattan night club, less than a month after he had been charged with misdemeanor assault and public intoxication in Houston.

Both charges were dismissed, but they contributed to the impression that Alston was on the way out from Houston. Adding to that impression was the offseason arrival of point guards James, Steve Francis and first-round pick Aaron Brooks.

Morey offers a different take while noting that Alston averaged an exhausting 44.1 minutes during the Rockets' seven-game loss in the first round to Utah last spring. "We had a meeting after the season, and Rafer said he couldn't keep that up,'' Morey said. "He said he needed help at the spot. Maybe in his mind we brought in too much help. But he studied tape before training camp, came in in his best shape and made it clear from Day One that he should be our starter.''

"The good thing about those two incidents was that the team knew it was uncharacteristic of myself to even be involved in those things,'' said Alston, 31. "They didn't react by trying to waive me or trade me. They stuck with me, but they also brought in a lot of competition. I told them they were going to be amazed at what kind of condition I got myself in this summer. No matter where I went, even on vacation, I took someone with me to get in a lot of running full court.''

Alston credits the Van Gundy brothers with preparing him for this season, his ninth in the league and his best yet. He looks back to 2003-04 with Stan Van Gundy's Heat, when he played the majority of minutes in all 82 games after never having played more than 50 games in any of the previous four years with Toronto and Milwaukee.

"That year in Miami made me a more accountable basketball player,'' Alston said. "Stan made me understand what hard work could do ... also he was working on me keeping my temper.''

Jeff Van Gundy persuaded Alston to devote the 2006 offseason to improving his three-point range. "He made me stay in the gym all summer because it would be beneficial not only to myself but to the team if I could consistently knock down the shot,'' Alston said. "Now when I'm missing, I'm able to figure out what I'm doing wrong -- raise my arc, get low with my legs, get under the shot.''

Alston is aware that many still think of him as an unreliable point guard dating back to his legendary New York streetball days. But the numbers expose a new truth. Over these last two years in Houston, he has averaged a steady 13.1 points and 5.5 assists with an assist-turnover ratio of 2.6 to 1. During the Rockets' recent 22-game winning streak, he bloomed to 15.7 points and 6.6 assists.

"I'm doing more scoring in this stretch than I've done in my career,'' said Alston, who had a career-high 31 in a win against the Lakers last Sunday. "You get older, you become smarter: managing the game, understanding how to run a team. And I've improved at finishing at the rim over the big guys. I'm not afraid to take the hit.''

3. The rookie. Each summer since the 2002 draft, when the Spurs picked him No. 56 overall, 6-foot-9 Argentine forward Luis Scola would look forward to coming to the NBA. Instead, each season he would remain in Spain with Tau Ceramica, one of the most successful clubs in Europe.

"The NBA, it was my dream since I'm a little kid,'' said the 27-year-old Scola, the MVP of the Spanish league two of the past three seasons. "As time goes by and you get older and more important in the team and in European basketball, you've got to start looking at the whole picture and being happy for what you have. If you would tell me I would have the career I am having in Europe, I would be surprised. I would say it's impossible.''

Each summer, Scola's enormous contract buyout combined with the Spurs wealth of talent to prevent him from moving overseas. "I tried to take it with more philosophy; I want to be there [in the NBA], I'm not going to lie,'' he said. "But if it doesn't happen, do I want to cry all day? I've got to be happy with what I have. I'm with one of the best teams in Europe, they like me, I'm happy in the city ... that's how I took it.''

He was ready to give up on the NBA last summer. "I got the extension contract offer from Tau, and I was about to take it,'' he said. "The deadline was July 15, and if nothing happened by then [with an offer from the NBA]? I'm 27, I was drafted five years ago, and if nothing happened until now, what makes me think it's going to change in the future?''

Instead, Scola's rights were traded to the Rockets on July 12. He had a difficult first half of the season adapting to the way the NBA game is officiated -- because he plays so aggressively -- but he wasn't necessarily disappointed. "He only has one gear, which is, like, fifth,'' Morey said. He kept pushing to discover how to maintain his physical style on the court, and in his free time he would go sightseeing. San Francisco appears to be his favorite American city thus far.

The Rockets have gone 22-3 since introducing Scola's energy to the starting lineup in late January. Today, he appreciates those extra years in Spain.

"Four or five or three years ago, I didn't think like that,'' he said. "I was always feeling I was ready, I have to come, I deserve it. But now, when I'm 27 and five years after, I realize that it was good. I wasn't ready when I was 22. I think I'm more prepared mentally now, more settled down with my family and everything.''

2. The 22-game winning streak. Morey believes the second-longest such streak in league history can be traced back to the extended absence of Tracy McGrady in December and January, when the Rockets went 7-4 without him. "That was the first time we had been successful when Tracy was out,'' Morey said, referring to previous years. "That was a key to us picking up the offense. While Tracy was out, we couldn't rely on his supreme talent. The rest of our team had to cut and move and run the offense for us to succeed. It really started clicking when Tracy was out, and when he came back, he integrated to what we were doing.''

The Rockets had won 12 in a row when Yao Ming was shut down to undergo surgery on a stress fracture in his left foot. But they had learned to win without him before -- they were 20-14 in his absence last season -- and all of the moving parts were working in their favor. McGrady was more comfortable within the offense. Alston was capable of more scoring. Scola's hyperactivity was helping to replace Yao at both ends of the floor. The schedule was favorable with only eight of the victories during the streak coming against legitimate playoff teams (not including the Nets and Hawks, who are hardly worth mentioning).

Shane Battier's leadership was maintaining the defensive standards of Jeff Van Gundy. Morey maintains that Adelman has been undervalued as a defensive coach -- "He's had top-five defenses over his career four times'' -- but his teams have usually been superior offensively. What has made the Rockets especially dangerous has been the emphasis on defense that was established by Van Gundy. They rank fourth in scoring defense (91.7 points) and second in field-goal defense (42.9 percent).

"We still hear the voice when we're out there on defense,'' Alston said of Van Gundy. "We still keep the principles. We love the things Rick and his staff have brought to the defense, but we still hear Jeff's voice. It makes you want to defend the ball or you know you're coming out.''

1. Their playoff hopes. "We're trying to play well enough -- it's going to be hard -- to get home-court [advantage] in the first round,'' Morey said. "We're not as concerned about seeding because every first-round matchup will be tough in the West. Our goal is to have home court in the first round and to advance. It's going to take a very strong finish, and we'll have to play better than we played our last two games.''

Those lopsided losses by a combined 41 points to the Celtics and Hornets can be written off as natural lulls following the 22-game streak. The issues for the Rockets remain unchanged since Yao's season-ending injury, however. They lack size -- especially with 6-9 rookie power forward Carl Landry missing the last seven games with a sore right knee -- against the big playoff teams like San Antonio, Phoenix and the Lakers (who can still go to Pau Gasol inside even if Andrew Bynum is unavailable). Can they consistently outscore teams like New Orleans, Utah or Golden State in a seven-game series?

"They have very little inside,'' a Western Conference scout said. "What more can you expect from them? They've already overachieved.''

After watching the Rockets play a perfect quarter of the season, it would be wrong to assume that they can't play team basketball over the month ahead. But this talk during the streak of whether they're better without Yao has been ridiculous. They're going to miss Yao badly in the postseason, and -- unless they recreate the makings of the streak, or an opponent suffers an injury of importance similar to Yao's -- they're going to struggle against all of the potential opponents in the West, each of whom should enter the playoffs with more talent.