Houston Rockets Not A Playoff Team In 2012
After last night’s underwhelming 100-91 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves capped off a 1-3 week, the 13-11 Houston Rockets currently resemble anything but a playoff team. Kevin McHale’s crew sits at third place in the Southwest Division, butting heads with perpetual adversary Memphis for the eighth and final postseason slot, but Clutch City’s finest could not appear further away from NBA glory.
The painfully apparent truth of the matter is that Houston took advantage of an easy stretch of schedule, filled with Eastern Conference patsies, to ride a seven-game winning streak to its fullest potential. Since the streak fizzled at home versus Milwaukee, the Rockets have struggled with the uptick in difficulty. Saturday’s contest in the Minnesota tundra kicked off a murderer’s row of six road games in 11 days, and all of them against fiercer Western Conference opponents. A trip to Denver looms on Monday, Portland is on Wednesday at the fabled Rose Garden, and the always-difficult midseason romp down the West Coast is there on Thursday and Sunday versus the still-dangerous Phoenix Suns and Mark Jackson’s Golden State Warriors.
If Houston can emerge from the upcoming road grind with more wins that losses, somehow re-discovering the mojo or elevated effort that earned them attention in the first place, then consider them a threat to overachieve in the postseason once again. But considering the Rockets have only won three road games this entire season — all against sub-.500 teams — the outlook isn’t overly sunny.
So, what is the problem? Houston’s flaws, which were happily concealed during the winning streak, are now protruding like Chandler Parsons’ faux hawk. Perhaps the recent struggles can be attributed to the stiffer schedule, or maybe the reason is more sinister. The Rockets are a team bereft of superstars, so they require maximum effort, execution, and a relatively apathetic night from their opponents to usurp the elite empires of the NBA. When that effort isn’t consistent, or Houston misses shots, accumulates turnovers, or suffers defensive lapses, they can be run out of the gym. Although the post-lockout condensed schedule lowered the amount of games from the usual 82 to 66 in 2011-12, the increased frequency of back-to-backs and clusters of games strewn together has made for a slate arguably more exhausting than ever in NBA history. For a team that can’t afford to take a night off in their effort, like Houston, the games can pile on and leave an imprint of exhaustion. Rockets fans are currently witnessing the effects of that exhaustion on their team.
And then there’s Kyle Lowry. Although the formerly budding superstar scored 24 points and dished 11 assists versus Minnesota, his recent play has failed to consistently buoy the Rockets in moments of need. The track record indicates that Houston needs a major effort from Lowry to defeat the most successful NBA teams, and he hasn’t provided that lately in the scoring or assist column. Even last night, when the statistics show that he produced a good game, Lowry failed to nail the late triples that have won contests for Houston so often in 2011-12. He isn’t finishing at the rim or shooting a high percentage, and his turnover rate has increased in the past two weeks. The Rockets need him to assume a finisher’s role on the road if they want to return to Houston unscathed.
Of course, Lowry’s drop in production isn’t the only reason Houston has struggled. Luis Scola’s lack of NBA-certified athleticism is readily apparent, Kevin Martin’s disappearing act in tight end-of-game situations continues to rear its ugly head, and offensive production from the center position is as unpredictable as Houston’s bench play, which has ranged from dominate to devoid of spark. The Rockets are not loaded with talent, and when the talent they do have isn’t playing up to usual standards, it can make for a long, long night. A sharp uptick in effort or a midseason blockbuster trade are the only ways Houston will be participating in the postseason this year.
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