The Houston Rockets, once a question mark because of the arrival of Chris Paul, are now one of the early darlings of the NBA. They have the best record in the league and managed to not only to adjust to Paul’s style of play, but utilize it as a weapon against the rest of the league.
Wednesday night’s throttling of the Charlotte Hornets was a brief peek into what’s made the Rockets so successful for a national television audience. James Harden and Paul working together has been a treat, but using them essentially in shifts has transformed Houston into a relentless offensive attack, something Mike D’Antoni is certainly proud of.
Houston’s coach spoke to ESPN about essentially turning Paul into the league’s best counterpunch and said the current iteration of the Rockets is what he imagined the team could be when the idea of acquiring Paul was initially floated. In fact, D’Antoni says Paul’s presence amounts to the team’s secret weapon that other teams lack.
“You think about it, that’s the weapon we should have over teams,” D’Antoni told ESPN. “That should be almost a constant thing.”
The key has been using Paul sparingly with Harden on the floor, then having him push the tempo while giving the All-Star a rest during the game’s slower moments.
D’Antoni devised his rotation around the plan to have a superstar point guard running the show for every meaningful second the Rockets play. That required some sacrifice from Paul, who starts but checks out about five minutes into each half, a major adjustment for a veteran accustomed to playing the entire first and third quarters. He returns four or five minutes later when Harden gets a breather.
And then the Rockets really getting running, with Paul playing the Steve Nash role from D’Antoni’s days with the “Seven Seconds or Less” Phoenix Suns.
“We’re rollin’. We be rollin’!” Paul told ESPN, a big smile on his face, after his 31-point, 11-assist performance in the win over the Hornets. “We gone. We gone. … Defensively, we switch a lot of stuff with that group, and then we get the ball, and we out.”
When Paul and Harden are both on the floor, ESPN notes, the Rockets outscore their opponents by 9.5 points per 100 possessions. That makes any lineup Houston puts out formidable.
Granted, it’s only been a dozen or so games since Paul has slid back into the lineup after an opening-night injury, but the early returns are certainly good for Houston with the point guard at full health. If Houston can keep this up through the middle movements of the season, perhaps we might be looking at a significantly different postseason path than once thought of in the West.
