Houston Rockets: Grading the offense after one game

Taking a closer look at the Houston Rockets’ offense after opening night

In night 1 of the NBA season, Gordon Hayward’s unfortunate injury definitely stole the headlines. And rightfully so. However, the Houston Rockets beating the Golden State Warriors 122-121 certainly warrants some attention.

After adding Chris Paul in the offseason, there were questions about this offense working. After one game, Houston passed with flying colors.

It’s only one game, but let’s take a look at how the Rockets offense looked against the defending champs.

Chris Paul/James Harden Duo

James Harden’s usage after one game was 34.2; Paul’s was only 16.4. Now the question is, was that because Paul was struggling, or is that a sign of things to come? The answer is both.

Paul was struggling with his shot, shooting only 2-9 from the field and finishing with four points. Harden had it rolling way more finishing with 27 points on 10-23 shooting from the field.

Houston didn’t bring Paul in for scoring; they already do enough of that. They brought him for crafty passing, scrappy defense, leadership and to protect the ball. Check out this scrappy defense.

Paul gets switched on to former teammate David West, who is a lot bigger than Paul. Paul doesn’t care and strips the ball away from West in the post and then keeps it inbounds and saves it to Ryan Anderson.

Well, check these numbers out. Paul had a ridiculously high assist ratio of 52.4 while finishing with 11 assists and a ridiculously low turnover ratio of 4.8; he only had one turnover in the game. That’s a good sign; turnovers were a problem for Houston last season. They were 24th in league with 13.3 turnovers a game. Against the Warriors, they only had 12 and that was against the best team in the league on the road. Paul will help them in this department dramatically.

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Going forward, expect Harden to have the ball more early on. Harden is familiar with Mike D’Antoni’s system and his teammates. As Paul adjusts, it will even out. The concerning note is Paul was 0-4 from 3. When Paul is playing off Harden, he will need to make some catch-and-shoot 3’s.

Even though Paul shot poorly, he positively impacted his team and helped them win. Remember, he also banged up his knee and was held out in crunch time. That’s something to keep an eye on going forward.

3’s and Free Throws

We all know Houston is the analytics team and they love 3’s. Last season they attempted 40 a game, which was an NBA record. Some thought with Chris Paul that number would go down, with his sweet midrange game. Well, they were wrong. Last night they attempted 41 and hit 15 of them, for a solid 36 percent clip.

New additions P.J. Tucker and Luc Mbah a Moute fit right in. Both are somewhat below average 3-point shooters, but they have the green light in Houston and with two great playmakers will have lots of open looks. Tucker was 4-6 from deep, and Mbah Moute was 2-3. A great sign for Houston.

Those two were mainly brought in for defense, but if they can make 3’s fairly consistently, Houston got even more dangerous. Their impact in this game was huge. Tucker was a +20 for the game, and Mbah Moute was a +4. Plus both made a few nice plays off the bounce. Watch Mbah a Moute attack the closeout here.

Mbah a Moute gets the ball in the corner and immediately attacks Swaggy P off the bounce. He drives left and finishes with his left in between two defenders. If Mbah a Moute and Tucker can make a few plays off the bounce than Houston will be even more dangerous offensively.

It was no surprise that coach D’Antoni played these two in crunch time. Their biggest impact, though, is their defense allows Houston to protect Ryan Anderson on that side of the ball a little more. They can hide Anderson on weaker players on defense now, and that allows him to play more minutes. Anderson on offense is a weapon. His range is ridiculous, and it opens up space for everyone. Against the Warriors, he was 3-8 from deep and finished with a nice +8 for the game.

The other thing Houston loves beside 3’s is free throws. Last season, they attempted 26.5 a game, which led the league as well. Against the Warriors, they were a little low on 19 attempts, but still a solid number.

Unfortunately, they only made 13, which is a 68 percent, well short of last seasons average of 76 percent. Free throws attempted is where Harden and Paul differ the most. Last season Harden attempted over 10 a game, while Paul was only slightly above four.

Forward Thinking

Going forward, it will take some time for D’Antoni to figure out lineups, rotations and how to best utilize Paul and Harden. Even though Paul struggled from the field, this is a good start. His passing and defense were a plus, and he was more than willing to give the reins to Harden.

It will probably take 20-30 games before these two are in sync. In the meantime, Houston will still shoot a million 3’s, trade a few free throws for CP3 midrange jumpers and a few fewer turnovers.

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They will always run like mad. Paul won’t slow the pace down; Houston played faster in game 1 than they did last year. For now, this is a big win for Houston.

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