Takeaways From Houston Rockets Worst Defeat of the Season

After losing to the Utah Jazz last night the Houston Rockets are currently out of the playoff picture and that game outcome may have lasting effects.

Too many mistakes, very little effort. That’s the image of Houston Rockets 2015-2016 season. Ultimately I have no reason to believe there’s any good coming out of this team eventually qualifying.

And even though it’s true that the Rockets can definitely compete with the Oklahoma City Thunder I still don’t find it possible that James Harden & Co. could take the Thunder in a 7 games series without home advantage.

With that in mind let’s take a look at some of the same errors that the Rockets continuously commit.

Three Things We Saw

Patrick Beverley’s Bad pass at the end of the game

That really annoyed me. Never mind Patrick Beverley having a terrible night, why would you throw that kind of lob pass for a 6’5 James Harden extremely well guarded by a taller 6’8 Gordon Hayward?

Obviously James Harden was the main option at that point of the game, but you are the point guard, you must be wise in this moments, understand the situation, be reasonable. But most of all throw a decent pass.

I like Patrick Beverley and he has proven to be an essential part of this team for countless games. Still that’s why the team needed (and still need) someone like Ty Lawson. Lawson would evaluate the risks and have this ball on Harden’s hand or adapt the play into something else.

Next up, Motiejunas:

Donatas Motiejunas Sloppy Plays

First off we have a nice pick and roll play by Donatas Motiejunas and James Harden. Harden gives a perfect bounce pass back to D-Mo but then the Jithuanian freaks out by Rudy Gobert’s presence and simply goes to a terrible alley-oop/shot.

If instead he went for a spin move to his right we would have gotten an easy layup.

The next play below show us the extent of Houston Rockets carelessness with the ball this season.

Instead of handing the ball to point guard Jason Terry, Motiejunas inexplicably proceeds to dribble it and goes for the ridiculous out of bounds pass.

Mostly due to plays like that, the Rockets who had an 18 point lead at the half, easily offered the Jazz a way back into the game.

Should we really be playing small that often?

Last night, one of the things that changed the flow of the match was Quinn Snyder getting Trevor Booker on court. Teamed up with Derrick Favors the Utah Jazz completely dominated the paint for the remainder of the game.

The Utah Jazz as a team had 42 rebounds while the Rockets had only 32.

What hurt the most was the number of offensive rebounds – 13 for the Jazz. 4 for the Rockets. That’s an insane amount of second chances, and on a game decided by only 2 points it obviously had an effect on the outcome.

The Rockets are recently on a tendency of going small but no player besides James Harden crashes the boards between the smaller guys.

But as we examine further, even between the big centers there’s a problem as only Dwight Howard and Capela are consistent grabbing rebounds below the paint.

That really opens up a question as to whether is really paying off playing the smaller guys too often.

And this loss also makes me wonder if H-town shouldn’t just shut down Harden for the rest of the season.

Take a look at the next 6 games: Toronto, Pacers, Cavaliers, Bulls, Thunder, Mavericks.

Is there really a point in making the playoffs at any cost?

Next: Dreadful Season

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