Houston Rockets — Perfect the Game Plan

The Houston Rockets have to be the only team in NBA history to roll out a starting lineup with the tallest guy standing at 6-feet, 7-inches. Not even to mention that they switched to this brand new small-ball lineup and game plan mid-season.

The Rockets became extremely fun to watch after the trade went down. Even if you hate the idea, and concept of what they are doing, you have to admit that it’s entertaining at the least.

Despite only having an 8-6 record after the Robert Covington trade, the Rockets went on a six game winning streak, and beat some pretty good teams like the Los Angeles Lakers, and Boston Celtics twice.

The five-out game plan also gave Russell Westbrook the runway he has always needed to produce at the most effective level possible. Westbrook turned into a mad-man, and it shouldn’t be a hot take to view the Rockets as his team since the trade.

In saying this, the Rockets definitely weren’t perfect. A lot of the time, they got away with Westbrook being able to do whatever he wanted, due to the opposing center often being designated as his defensive matchup.

Now that teams have had the opportunity to look over film on Houston, the Rockets have had the ability to perfect their game plan as well. Offensively, they’ll likely remain in a five-out approach. and defensively will probably continue to switch everything.

Houston has had two main problems. The fact that Harden is too gassed come April, and the common knowledge that they’re too easy to game plan for. Both of these problems should be solved.

The Rockets will still have a simple approach offensively. Looking to get inside and isolate with Harden or Westbrook. However, with the time off, they have the ability to input different entries, and motions alongside the isolation.

Will they use them? Who knows. If this approach doesn’t work, they could be a laughing stock for trying something so bizarre. If it does though, we could start to see the NBA transform in a way like no other.