Houston Rockets: Where Do They Go From Here?

The Houston Rockets had the biggest opportunity of their collective playoff lives last night.

What was it?

To make a statement and get themselves back into this playoff series!

It’s quite simple, isn’t it?

Well, with the way the Rockets played, you’d think that they didn’t get that memo.

To be quite honest, I don’t think they had mentally checked-in to that game.

Now I’m not saying every player was this way — Dwight Howard has been bringing it for this team the during the incredible playoff run they’ve had thus far.

It’s not such a spectacular run now but Howard has consistently played well while the others have been up and down.

I’m sure Howard is playing with a bit of pain and tenderness in his knees but it seems as if it doesn’t seem to bother him.

If there were any finger-pointing to be done in this series, they should definitely not be pointed in his direction.

But for the rest of the team, I think the blame should rest on their shoulders.

Here are a few things that the Rockets didn’t do that led to their demise:

1. The Rockets shots were not falling. The Rockets were horrid from the field staying staying in the 30 percentile through most of the game and shooting as high as 37 percent at points. Their three-point shooting was even worse — connecting on 5-for-25 from behind-the-arc for 20 percent.

For awhile, they had only made two three-pointers but picked up that count to five during garbage time. The Warriors played suffocating defense and there was nothing the Rockets could do about it. The Rockets ended up shooting 33.7 percent for the night.

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2. The Rockets defense was awful at best. For a team that remained in the Top 10 as far as defensive efficiency throughout the regular season, what we saw last night was a far cry from what we were treated to. There were too many occasions where the Rockets would get lost in the Warriors pick-and-roll, as if it were a bona fide game of hide-and-go-seek and Stephen Curry was the leader.

Curry got a big chunk of his 40 points last night off a wide-open jumpers — situations were the Rockets lost him and he got free to shoot. Remember — he only needs a millisecond to setup and if you’re running at him after he has launched, it’s too late. This ineptitude on defense was the biggest reason why the Rockets could not get back into the game.

3. They had no sense of organization with shot selection. The Rockets were playing blacktop basketball, just jacking up anything, hoping that it’d go in. That’s not going to work against the Warriors — they’re the No. 1 in team defensive efficiency for a reason. The Rockets were extremely predictable on offense and the Warriors knew exactly what we were going to do.

You know what is — either hand the ball off to James Harden for the one-on-one isolation or go to the three-point line. The Warriors took both of those tools — Harden and three-point line — away from the Rockets and when that happens we’re likely to lose.

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4. The Rockets that didn’t have the ball in their hands weren’t moving an inch. There were too much instances where I saw this, everybody was standing around watching the Beard dribble precious seconds off the clock. Those guys should be constantly moving to try to tire the defense out and find a way to get open.

The Beard is the team assists-leader for a reason, he can get you the ball if you’re in the right spot. Basketball is a game of continuous motion and with as stagnant as the Rockets offense looked last night, it’s no surprise that they lost that game.

And there you have it — these are the reasons why the Rockets got manhandled last night.

By the way, they were outscored in every quarter and were out-rebounded by a 60-39 margin, that’ll do ya in too!

This team is now down 3-0 and facing elimination Monday night.