NBA: The Rockets before Game 2 against the Warriors: The Iso-Ball is not the problem

The Houston Rockets lost their first game against the Golden State Warriors quite clearly at home. The big problem was not the iso-heavy offense, but above all the many mistakes in the defense. But these were absolutely avoidable and should give the Texans hope.

There was a lot of talk after the game about the offense. The ball doesn’t run enough, it’s too disorganized, the role players aren’t involved enough or don’t hit their throws at all. Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni had little to do with this and quickly wiped out this criticism. “Isolations were our best plays. People’s perception is not reality.”

And the 67-year-old was right about that, too. Of course 45 isolations are a lot and probably a corner too much, but from the 33 posessions, which actually ended in an iso-action, there were 1.36 points per play. This would mean an offensive rating of 136 throughout the game, with Houston reaching 102.7 points per 100 ball possessions in the end.

Especially James Harden, who is the Iso-King of the playoffs anyway, could not be stopped by the Warriors. He scored 24 points (9/12 FG) in Iso-Plays against Kevin Durant, Kevon Looney or Stephen Curry. This is another reason why D’Antoni was surprised by the criticism. “I don’t know why this is a bad offense.”

No, Houston has to do something else to tickle this seemingly unbeatable Warriors team. There is air upwards above all in the defense. The Warriors scored more than half of their field shots, almost a sure defeat for their opponent, as Golden State has been unbeaten for 22 games if they manage to do so. According to stats.nba.com, more than 50 percent of the dubs were’open’ or’wide open’, especially Klay Thompson (28 points), who was allowed to throw 15 threesomes and hit 6 of them, always lost sight of the Rockets – an absolute no go.

This even surprised the second Splash Brother, who was asked after the game if he could remember playoff games in which he could throw so often so freely. “In the playoffs? Hardly.” The Rockets’ defense collapsed not because of the champion’s outstanding ball movement, but because Houston was not focused and communication often did not fit.

Sometimes it was Chris Paul who sent help much too early, sometimes it was Harden who completely lost sight of the Shooting Guard. These were mistakes that were made in the half-field, but there were more flagrant shortcomings in transition. Especially when Draymond Green hit a defensive rebound, it should have meant a red alert for Houston, but Golden State had too many fast-break overpayments to punish like no other.

An example of all the Rockets problems was the Dagger from Thompson. On the one hand, Harden caused a turnover with a failed praise for Clint Capela at 96:103 and virtually stopped, the Warriors had a 3-on-1, even though Stephen Curry missed the free threesome. The rebound, however, belonged to Golden State, who played a completely free longball for Thompson because Capela and P.J. Tucker could not agree on who should defend whom.

These may be serious mistakes, but they are things that can be corrected, especially by being more focused. The defense against Kevin Durant was more than solid anyway. Does he still feel every throw from the middle distance? Possible, but also the current finals MVP can catch a used, cool evening.

“We can live with that,” D’Antoni also explained about the explosion of KD. It was other things that upset MDA. “I don’t know how many layups we forgiven, they punished them consistently in fast breaks. Klay threw 15 threes, it can’t be,” the coach analyzed. “We need to take this away and defend it a little better so we can switch over quickly ourselves.”

This was missing in game 1. The Rockets in Transition scored just 3 points, the Warriors reached 18, this difference was reflected in the result.

And of course it wouldn’t hurt if the partly invisible role-players of the Texans met one or the other throw, the possibilities were already there in game 1. 21 distance throws (CP3 and Harden excluded) took the rockets, only 6 were sunk, whereby no direct presentation of the two stars preceded. Tucker (1 point, 0/2 trio), Trevor Ariza (8, 1/5 trio) or Luc Mbah a Moute (0, 0, 0/6 FG): they all did not make much offensive contribution.

The Rockets, however, depend on it. While the Warriors have four all-stars and three elite scorers in their ranks, in Texas it’s just Paul and Harden. “We have to play the same way as in the previous rounds,” Harden demanded. “That’s why we’re standing here now. We must stand defensively, help each other and find a rhythm.”

That worked against Minnesota or Utah, but is it enough against perhaps the best team of all time? Game 2 (live on DAZN at 3am) is something like the last chance, otherwise the worst case, a sweep, threatens. “We played a certain style this season and have achieved a lot, we won’t change that, we’ll just focus on our strengths,” CP3 explained.

These strengths in the regular season were the brilliance of Harden and Paul as well as the strong defense, which takes 6th place in the regular season and 2nd place in the playoffs. Houston need stops to keep up with the best team in the group stage.

Warriors coach Steve Kerr summed it up after game 1: “When you get that far in the playoffs, it all depends on the defense. You have to play defensively at the highest level to win a championship,” Kerr said. “This is a prerequisite.”