Houston Rockets register first win of season in Dallas – Player Grades

Oct 28, 2016; Dallas, TX, USA; Dallas Mavericks guard Wesley Matthews (23) guards Houston Rockets forward Trevor Ariza (1) during the first half at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Following a sub par effort to open the season the Houston Rockets rebounded with a quality effort to garner their first victory of 2016-17.

Fears the Houston Rockets abandoned their commitment to defense on a preseason court were somewhat assuaged in Dallas. There is still work to be done and noticeable deficiencies at certain roster positions (need I say it?). That said, this was a far better effort with more balance than the game in L.A.

Several key changes occurred between the two contests. Most notably, and thankfully K.J. McDaniels spent more time on the court. James Harden while still solid at the point, spent less time forgoing his own offense to hook up his teammates. That’s not to say he wasn’t dishing dimes. Rather, he mixed the two areas together better.

Understandably Harden who has taken his leadership role to heart was set on getting his teammates rolling in the season opener. Yet, Harden expended so much energy in the first half in LA he was visibly fatigued in the second half.  What was disappointing is his virtuoso effort (especially the first half) versus the Lakers was all but forgotten because the team neglected to defend and ultimately lost.

In Dallas, Harden found a much better balance and the Rockets made a better overall effort defensively, albeit still with lapses. Last season Houston had a dearth of play makers or consistently reliable shooters. Inevitably that led to Harden carrying the majority of the load and becoming predictable for opponents who simply sent multiple defenders to trap him. Ironically I was left wondering if opponents would attempt to shut him down in his new role by cutting off his passing lanes. That’s why the balanced effort is more important because Harden still possesses the ability to drop 50 on any given night. No doubt he’ll work with D’Antoni to tweak the offense and the more he functions in this role he’ll find a natural rhythm.

Moving forward I’m anxious to see if D’Antoni would dare experiment with a small ball line-up featuring 3 guards (Harden, Ennis and Gordon) with a super small front court of McDaniels and Ariza. This line could offer copious 3 point shooters, multiple ball handlers, speed and three of the teams’ best defenders. Sure, it could only be used in specific situations, but I’m hankering to see that line-up.

Coach D’Antoni came close in this game with the one difference being 2 of those 3 aforementioned guards each spent time together on court with McDaniels, Ariza and mostly Capela. Consequently the  variation of these 6 provided the best defensive efforts of the night.

With that let’s take a look at the player grades.

Next: Rockets Starting 5 Player Grades

Oct 28, 2016; Dallas, TX, USA; Houston Rockets guard Eric Gordon (10) drives to the basket between Dallas Mavericks forward Harrison Barnes (40) and center Andrew Bogut (6) during the second half at the American Airlines Center. The Rockets defeat the Mavericks 106-98. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Next: Best Reserve and Opponent Grades

Oct 28, 2016; Dallas, TX, USA; Dallas Mavericks forward Harrison Barnes (40) guards Houston Rockets guard K.J. McDaniels (32) during the second half at the American Airlines Center. The Rockets defeat the Mavericks 106-98. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Best Reserve:

Best Opponent:

Honorable mention goes to the line-up of Tyler Ennis, Eric Gordon, K.J. McDaniels, Trevor Ariza and Nene Hilario who closed out on shooters, pressured the pass, created turnovers, caused shot clock violations and most importantly held the lead.

As an aside, I’ve found it interesting there has been quite a few comments regarding the players needing to “find their legs” and get in game shape. For the most part this group spent the 2 months leading up to training working out together.  Perhaps they spent less time conditioning and didn’t realize the pace D’Antoni was expecting.

Suffice to say the squad (other than Ryan Anderson) should sleep much easier following the victory.

In the category of I know it’s only 2 games BUT……………. If the MVP was handed out today Harden would be in the mix along with Kawhi Leonard, Dame Lillard, Russell Westbrook, Anthony Davis, LeBron and DeMar. Yes those Warriors are missing from my list, but come now can anyone seriously consider giving MVP to a team with 4 All-Stars starting and a worthy 6th man on their team?

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Normally we would opine Leonard won’t keep getting or taking this many shots, but this is a new era in Spurs basketball, so maybe he will. Then there is that little matter of the quiet rage over in Oklahoma. What makes Harden’s campaign all the more difficult is unless his team places ahead of the other candidates it will be hard for him to grab the hardware. The exception to this rule will be Russell Westbrook who has been left in OKC trying to get the knot out of his KD friendship bracelet and doing everything in his power to make sure the Thunder are relevant.

At the end of the day the safest bet is Harden will be among the points, assists and free throw leaders and most definitely in the conversation.

Especially if the team plays games more reminiscent of the Dallas game utilizing a more balanced attack.

Next: Houston Rockets 2016-17 Team Preview

Next: Dallas Mavericks 2016-17 Team Preview

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Next up the Rockets will hold their home opener on Sunday at 7PM CT/8PM ET. Look for the Houston Rockets to push for the victory prior to heading out on for a 5 game road trip.