It comes as a shock to no one that the Houston Rockets love three’s and shots at the rim. So, the Spurs have made it their sole purpose to take those shots away and it has completely worked. Holding the Rockets to two straight games below 100 points, the Spurs beat the Rockets 103-92 tonight to take a 2-1 series lead in the 2017 NBA playoffs.
James Harden was decent in the opening minutes but then quickly devolved into the player he has been the last 4 games. Trevor Ariza was the only thing working for the Rockets early, hitting 5 threes and scoring 15 points after the first half. He also played some pretty solid defense on Kawhi Leonard who scored just 10 points on 33.3% shooting.
Harden then came out of halftime on fire, ending the game shooting 50% from the field, but apparently no one walked through the coals with him. Non Harden Rockets shot just 18/60. Lou Williams and Ryan Anderson combined for 2 points and it felt like no other Rockets but Patrick Beverley and Clint Capela were even playing.
The Spurs were able to accomplish this by doing exactly what they did in game 2. Giving Harden ample space off a pick and roll, sticking on the shooters, and dropping the big to defend the rim leaving the Rockets with their least favorite shot, the mid range jumper. It also dares Harden to shoot his inefficient floater. It has worked wonders for San Antonio who again stifled the Rockets offense.
On plays like this, Harden doesn’t necessarily have to shoot “the shot that must not be named”. He is quite capable of whizzing past the big or going deep into the paint to draw the big and throw the lob to the roll man. He has just lacked this kind of accurate decision making so far.
It also does not help that the Spurs’ bigs have been fantastic since Game 1. Implementing Pau Gasol into the starting lineup has completely worked. LMA and Pau have denied a combined 12 shots in the last two games. This makes the likelihood of the guards confidently going at the rim very small.
And, sure, they could play Ryan Anderson at the 5 hoping to draw the Spurs bigs to the perimeter. But, it appears the Spurs are currently running an amped up version of the defense the Thunder ran. This means the defense will likely hang onto Ryno for dear life on these pick and pop possessions. His abysmal play also garners no optimism that this would work.
Houston may just have to shoot that shot. That shot that gives Daryl Morey nightmares and DeMar DeRozan regular season success. That shot that guards from the 90’s love and statisticians hate. The shot that the Spurs are giving the Rockets. It’s a shot Harden is not terrible at, shooting about 41% and they wouldn’t need a barrage of them. Just a few to make the Spurs’ bigs second guess enough for the speed of the Rockets’ guards to become overpowering.
Pau and LMA are slow defenders. Dropping back to the rim is an easy assignment with the threat of a jumper all but at 0%. Jumping that 0% to even 10% could be enough for the skilled Rockets guards to take advantage of. Houston intentionally constricts their own offense with their system of 3’s and layups. Two things are obviously much easier to defend than three.
With the Rockets’ firepower, even just the threat of a third weapon in the arsenal could be enough to refuel the offense. It’s not who the Rockets are but the playoffs demand chess moves and they need to make theirs before it is too late.
