Rockets Launch Aborted — Houston’s Early Struggles

Sean Taylor

November 20, 2015

The Houston Rockets announced the firing of head coach Kevin McHale Wednesday, after starting the season with a dismal 4-7 record. Expectations were high this season after reaching the Western Conference Finals last season where to lost in 5 to the eventual NBA Champions, the Golden State Warriors.

Here’s some reasons behind their slide:

The Rockets’ depth, which helped them wear down teams last year, has taken a hit with a number of injuries in the early going thus affecting rotational play. Point guard and defensive stalwart Patrick Beverly has missed time with an ankle injury and concussion, while forward Terrence Jones missed several games with an eye injury. Reports are circulating that rookie Sam Dekker will miss 3 months after having back surgery. Center Dwight Howard has missed time to rest given his recent history of injuries. Every team has injuries, but it doesn’t help when they coalesce in the beginning of the season as players are trying to settle into their respective roles.

James Harden has scored but much less efficiently than last year; he started the season 3-32 from behind the arc, while returning to his less-than-stellar defensive ways. While “The Beard” is still putting up points, (and doing a much better job in the last couple games), his slow start was a chief culprit behind the Rockets’ 0-3 start.

The Ty Lawson experiment is not working. After picking up the talented but troubled point guard, many expected him to take the Rockets’ offense to new heights. Instead he has cratered, struggling to score and distribute the ball, while combining with James Harden to form perhaps the worst perimeter defense in the league. With Beverly hurt, 39 year old Jason Terry may be the Rockets’ best option.

What is baffling about the Rockets’ sub-par start to the season is the nature of their losses. Games are close and competitive until a bad pass or an easy bucket, at which point the Rockets hang their head. Suddenly, the floodgates open and their opponents go on massive runs that the Rockets simply cannot stop, leading them to blown leads and holes too deep to recover from. It’s odd to see a professional sports team quit like the Rockets have done in their last few games. There is simply too much talent on this team for them not to have a shot at the playoffs but in the ultra-competitive West, they have put themselves behind the eight ball. Whether the firing of McHale is the answer to the Rocket’s problems remains to be seen: Houston named J.B. Bickerstaff as the interim head coach for the rest of the season.