The 2017-18 Houston Rockets faced a barrage of questions regarding the James Harden and Chris Paul duo. Was it going to work?
If so, how? After all, both players had grown accustomed to having the ball in their hands.
A lot.
The result was astounding, as the Rockets marched to the top seed in the Western Conference, in addition a 65-17 record, good for a league best. Not only that, the Rockets posted the best record in franchise history.
James Harden won the scoring title and his first ever MVP (although one can make a strong argument that he should’ve nabbed at least one before that season). The Rockets seemed poised to finally dethrone the superteam Golden State Warriors, who had been their kryptonite, as they ended the Rockets’ season in two of the prior three seasons. The Rockets and Dubs faced off in the Western Conference Finals and were tied 3-3 heading into Game 7, which was in Houston.
The Rockets were forced to try staving off defeat without Chris Paul, who suffered a fateful hamstring injury in the waning minutes of Game 5. The Rockets held a 54-43 lead at the half, but their approach of bombing 3-pointers wasn’t quite as effective, as they shot 6-of-23 from deep in the first half, good for just 26.1 percent.
Although this was awful, the Rockets got away with it, because the Warriors made just 28.6 percent of their threes through the first two quarters.
The second half, however, was a much different story. The Warriors made 55.6 percent of their long-range attempts in the second half, while the Rockets shot 1-for-21 in the final two quarters of the contest.
The Rockets shot 0-of-14 from distance in the third quarter and 1-of-7 in the fourth, with the lone trey coming when the Rockets were already down by 13. All told, the Rockets missed 27 consecutive threes, setting an NBA postseason record.
The Rockets opted to keep firing away from deep. After all, that’s what got them there, as they took a league-best 42.3 triples per contest during the regular season, making 15.3 of their attempts per game (36.2 percent).
Seven years later and NBA legend and Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James is still perplexed by the Rockets’ decision to continue hoisting an avalanche of threes, despite not making virtually any of them, as James stated on the Mind the Game podcast.
“27 straight threes? And they kept shooting them? It’s not like all of them was only 3-point shooters. It’s not like they had five Craig Hodges on their team, or five Steve Kerr’s on the floor. Where that’s all they can do, is shoot threes.
Eric Gordon can get into the paint. James Harden can get into the paint.”
Again, the Rockets had been playing that way all season. Hell, all decade. And the player most likely to make a mid-range shot was the aforementioned Paul, who was out for the game.
However, Rockets fans certainly wish the game would’ve gone differently, as the Rockets’ best chance of winning a title was that season.
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