Houston’s Next Step Comes With Experience

One of the main missing components for the Houston Rockets during their strong season was the lack of experience in high-stakes situations. Now, the Rockets have their first experience with the playoffs with a game plan to move forward. The team hopes to reach the next level after the lessons they learned during the postseason.

Alperen Sengun and Amen Thompson are the main beneficiaries of gaining new experience in the playoffs.

Sengun learned how to lead the team offensively even through difficult defense. The Golden State Warriors' Draymond Green was Sengun's primary defender throughout the first round of the postseason. Green is one of the best defenders in the league's history, and he gave Sengun a difficult matchup in the playoffs.

Sengun still found ways to have impactful offensive performances despite the difficult defense. Houston's all-star big man couldn't distribute the ball to his teammates as he's accustomed to, but Sengun did create scoring opportunities for himself offensively.

He single-handedly kept the Rockets in a few games, and his presence attracted the defense to collapse into the paint, allowing for quick passes to open shooters. His teammates didn't always pay off his passes with made shots, but Sengun's evolution through his career as a passer and a scorer was on display in the postseason.

Thompson also evolved offensively throughout the playoffs. He found a way to get into the paint even without a consistent jump shot to open space in the lane for his drives. He was much more assertive as the series went along, especially when the performance of his teammate, Jalen Green, wasn't productive enough to help Houston win against the Warriors.

Thompson's aggressiveness may have been the biggest lesson he learned from the playoffs, as he asserted himself offensively and still played impactful defense worthy of his first-team all-defense selection.

His intelligence on both sides of the court helped him become an integral part of Houston's game plan in his second year in the league.

Houston's other high-profile wing player came away with some harsh realities after his experience in the postseason, as Jalen Green learned he is still nowhere near his potential. Judging Green's entire season from his subpar postseason performance is somewhat unfair. However, despite his improvement in the regular season, teams are more willing to commit to players who perform well in the playoffs and give their respective teams a chance to win a championship.

Green isn't there just yet, and his fellow young teammates are ahead of the curve in terms of becoming dependable leaders on a contending team. They all received some answers during the postseason, and they hope their experience in the playoffs helps them take the next step in their rise to contention.