The Houston Rockets’ Struggles

By ANTOINE WILEY ‘20

James Harden, a professional basketball player on the Houston Rockets, is shooting 38% from the field and 22% from downtown (behind the 3-point line). Harden has become the only NBA player in history to miss fifty three-pointers in the first five games on the season, beating the previous mark by ten shots. He’s also leading the league in scoring, averaging an astronomic thirty-five points per game. How is this apparent contrast possible?

Much to the delight of his devoted internet trolls, Harden is averaging seventeen free throws a game, and, despite his shooting struggles, has managed to sink 96% of them. Even more importantly, however, is his ability to shoot whenever he wants and as much as he wants on the Houston’s offensive. Houston is a fan of the three-pointer (with the most attempted three-pointers of any NBA team last season, beating the Bucks by almost seven attempts), and the team has no issue letting Harden shoot the ball. Houston’s trust in Harden isn’t entirely misplaced, considering Harden’s incredible scoring success; just last season, he had a thirty-two game streak of 30+ points and the highest scoring season in modern NBA history. No one besides Wilt Chamberlain and Michael Jordan has ever averaged more points per game in a season than James Harden. As impressive as Harden’s scoring achievements, however, are his dry shooting stretches. Harden’s thirty-point game streak included one in which he went 1-17 from three (tying the record for most attempted threes in a game while also setting the record for the worst three-point percentage in a game), and this same streak ended when he scored twenty-eight points and went 0-10 from three. When Harden is off, it is extremely apparent, but he isn’t as inefficient as his critics like to say; last season he managed to shoot 44% from the field and 37% from three, while leading the league in field goal attempts per game at 24.

Houston’s rocky 3-3 start to the season can be partly attributed to their main scoring option missing shots, but a bigger problem is their defense. Last year, Houston was perfectly average in defensive efficiency (fifteenth out of thirty teams), but this season, they are second to last. The Rockets abhorrent defense was on full display in a recent 159-158 win over the Wizards (the game didn’t even go into overtime). The biggest story of the game was Harden going off for fifty-nine points on 56% shooting, but arguably more impressive than his scoring is the fact that Houston barely won by one point behind such an outing. Rockets’ shooting guard Austin Rivers couldn’t help but express frustration after a 123-116 loss to the Nets, blankly stating that "We're not playing any defense. Guys are scoring, getting whatever they want.” He’s absolutely right; the Rockets are awful in a wide variety of defensive metrics: opposing teams are shooting 50% from the field (worst in the league), shooting 43.3% from three (worst in the league), and scoring an average of 127 points per game (worst in the league). To put into perspective how bad the Rocket’s defense is, Stephen Curry’s career three point percentage of 43.5% is barely better than the 43.3% of three point shots the Rockets’ opposing teams are knocking down this season.

Of course, the season just started, and Harden is incredibly unlikely to keep shooting this terribly throughout the entire season. If he does, Houston is in major trouble. Houston has come agonizingly close to reaching the Finals, but to have any hope of winning a ring, they’re going to have to fix their defense. In the words of Bear Bryant, offense sells tickets, but defense wins championships.

Mark PangNovember 9, 2019