NBA: Triangle talk: Rockets playing warriors ball on speed.

Before the Christmas Games (Warriors vs. Cavaliers in the LIVESTREAM FOR FREE) there is a lot to discuss. Can the rockets be dangerous for the warriors? Has the project in OKC already failed? Is Joel Embiid already the best Big Man in the league – and how is Maxi Kleber doing in Dallas? Two SPOX editors discuss with basketball. de editor-in-chief Manuel Baraniak and DAZN commentator Alex Schlüter.

Alex Schlüter: No, they are not. Yes, they play very successful basketball. Yeah, since Chris Paul came back, they’ve been playing even more successful basketball. But: Houston has never beaten so many good teams this season. The Spurs were an exception in the end – that was impressive, I admit – but in the playoffs I have them not only clearly behind the Warriors, but even behind San Antonio. Don’t get me wrong, something great has come into being in Houston over the last few years, which has now been greatly enhanced with Paul. Nevertheless, the rockets are still a regular-season-team for me, which overruns the opponents with their fluid offense, but in the slower, more tactical playoffs, they eventually reach their limits.

Manuel Baraniak: I am more optimistic than you, Alex. The focus is mainly on James Harden and Paul, but what sets the Rockets apart is the Defense this season. Straight P. J. Tucker and Luc Mbah a Moute have been really important additions and they allow the rockets to set up their own Death Lineup, a very small but defensive line-up where everybody can switch everything. This could be an approach to how the Rockets could actually compete with Golden State. Of course, it has to be clear whether they can dominate the playoffs as well – teams under Mike D’ Antoni were usually regular-season teams in the first place. With Paul, you can say the same. It could be that the rockets have their peak already during the season, which is certainly not the case with the Warriors. But let’s wait and see – this squad is in any case composed in such a way that it could become really dangerous for the Warriors.

Thorben Rybarczik: Sometimes regardless of whether they can beat the Warriors this season or not:”As Alex says, I think it’s great what the rockets have built up. There is a clear strategy with Morey Ball and it has been going on for years. In the beginning the GM was still laughed at, but that’s over. They do their thing and make no secret of what their goal is: the championship. Morey says that everything else is a disappointment. I find it refreshing that you’re being so honest with it. And they do everything they can to squeeze the maximum out of Harden’s prime, at full risk. Is it enough this year? Probably not. But I think the Rockets’ approach is the right one to cope with the dubs. The champion’s game of reversing and playing classically slow and big will not work.

Ole Frerks: I think it’s always a bit funny – there’s so much talk about the great start of the rockets right now, I’m talking about it myself. But then you look at the table and see that the dubs have almost exactly the same balance sheet, without showing their best basketball to all intents and purposes. In the meantime, this has already reached the level of LeBron: The Dubs are simply subject to different standards than everyone else. And yet Houston could still be more dangerous to them than I had previously assumed. You’ve already mentioned the new defensive power, Manuel, but the following factor also plays a role: Since the rockets take more than 43 (!) threes per game, they somehow manipulate mathematics. Everyone knows that when it comes to talent, you can’t put together a better team than Golden State. But when you put strong shooters together and let them shoot,”coincidence” takes on a greater role. And then when Houston hits his 23.24 threesomes, maybe it doesn’t matter anymore that the dubs have more all-stars or hall-of-famer. Of course you’re still the outsider – but if you want to learn the dubs somehow, you have to be creative. The rockets are playing warriors ball at speed. And of course they also have the perfect personnel, at least if they can keep Harden reasonably fresh for the playoffs this time.

Manuel Baraniak: That’s right. Basically, today’s question is whether to try to beat the Dubs with their own weapons, i. e. to play small, or to challenge them with Big Ball – as OKC did in 2016, before Kevin Durant ended this rivalry on his own. Houston has chosen the small version and this year they may also have the best chance. But the question is, can you really win four out of seven games?

Page 1: The Rockets are a serious opponent to the Warriors

Page 2: The OKC project has already failed

Page 3: Joel Embiid is already the best Big Man in the league

Page 4: Maxi Kleber becomes a top performer in Dallas over the years

Page 5: The disappointment of the previous season is…