Rockets' biggest issue only gets worse in Game 1 disaster

The Houston Rockets are officially playoff-tested. Perhaps a generous evaluator would give them a passing grade, but it would be difficult to go above a C.

The Rockets lost by 10. It was a competitive game. Houston erased a 23-point deficit to bring it as close as 3. It wasn't enough. That shouldn't come as a surprise:

It's hard to beat the Warriors with 85 points.

Rockets struggle to score vs Warriors

To frame it differently, it's hard to lose to Golden State when they only score 95.

The Rockets' defense was as stout as expected. The Warriors struggled against their length and size.

They just didn't struggle as badly as the Rockets.

Houston's offense was anemic in this contest. They shot a gruesome 39.1% from the field and 20.7% from three-point range. They couldn't buy a bucket.

How can they respond heading into game 2?

Rockets need consistent half-court threats

Take note of that headline. The Rockets need consistent half-court threats. Emphasize the plurality.

They did have one threat. Alperen Sengun had 26 points on 11/16 shooting from the field. He only had one assist, but it's hard to fault him:

None of his teammates could knock down a shot.

Fred VanVleet was a painful 4/19 from the field. Amen Thompson started to turn it on down the stretch, but he still had just 8 points on 4/9 shooting from the field. The sophomore didn't look ready to be a consistent source of half-court offense.

Neither did fourth-year guard Jalen Green.

That's a problem. The Rockets look to Thompson as their defensive lynchpin. He can move off the ball and function as a cutter and lob threat offensively. By contrast, if Jalen Green gives the Rockets 7 points on 3/15 shooting, he's not giving them much else.

This is the root of the issue. The Rockets need two dynamic half-court threats. Fred VanVleet is ideally more of a game manager for them. He's meant to organize the offense, and Sengun and Green are meant to execute it.

Sengun did his part. He looked like a star player.

He's still not someone who can carry the day on his own.

Sengun needs help. Ideally, Green would provide it. The Rockets will be difficult to beat if they're both optimizing their abilities. Unless that happens, the Rockets will continue to struggle to generate half-court offense. This could be a short series if Sengun is the only Rocket who can produce efficiently:

Hopefully the Rockets can ace their next test on Wednesday.