Rockets are built to make a title run this year

The Houston Rockets have been a pleasant surprise this season.

After finishing 41-41 a year ago and losing to the Golden State Warriors 4-1 in the first round of the playoffs, the Rockets find themselves in third place in the Western Conference standings with less than a month remaining in the regular season. A nice change from last season when they didn’t even know if they would make the playoffs.

Not only have the Rockets clinched a playoff berth this season, but they are among the favorites to win it all. In fact, Vegas has them ranked fourth at 15/1 odds to win the 2016-17 NBA Finals. Not too shabby for a team that hired a new head coach and made a lot of changes to the roster in the offseason.

Turns out hiring Mike D’Antoni was the right move for the Rockets, and the players they brought in were a perfect fit for his system. Free-agent signings Eric Gordon and Ryan Anderson have made GM Daryl Morey look like a strong candidate for NBA Executive of the Year. Both Gordon and Anderson rank top-10 in 3-pointers made this season. Morey also acquired Lou Williams in a mid-season trade to give the Rockets some extra firepower off the bench.

With all those trigger-happy shooters surrounding MVP candidate James Harden, it’s no wonder Houston averages the second-most points (115.5) per game in the NBA. Clearly, the Rockets plan on winning games by simply scoring more points than the opposing team.

How has that strategy paid off? Well, Houston has the league’s third-best overall average scoring margin (plus-6.9 PPG).

However, as good as they are on offense, the Rockets give up a lot of points on defense. They rank 24th in points (108.6) allowed per game. The funny thing is Houston ranks third in steals (8.4) per game and fourth in opponent turnovers (14.7) per game. Just because the Rockets give up a lot of points doesn’t mean they aren’t active on the defensive end.

With that said, the road to the NBA Finals will most likely go through San Antonio and Golden State, and the Rockets have played those teams tough. If there’s any team that can push San Antonio’s top-ranked defense to the limit, it’s the Rockets. Likewise, the Rockets are probably the only team that can match Golden State’s high-powered offense point for point. This Rockets team has the ability to go far in the playoffs. We’ll see just how far in the coming months.

About Marcelo Villa