The narrative was just that: a narrative. Two ball-dominant all-star guards couldn’t co-exist. There was only one ball and too many egos. They couldn’t do the same thing they always did and expect better results. The Rockets had to change.
The Rockets are staying true themselves. That’s how they beat the Warriors.
They said the Rockets had to change if they wanted to win. The lie detector determined that was false.
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Bullshit.
The Rockets stuck true to themselves all along. Their pick-and-roll heavy, isolation-predicated offensive system won them a franchise-record 65 wins in the regular season. That same offense blasted the Timberwolves out of the first round and drubbed the Jazz in the second. And now in a dogfight for their first NBA Finals appearance since Hakeem Olajuwon repeated between 1993 and 1995 — against the team that entered the season favorites to return to the Finals for a fourth straight season — they’re sticking to the plan that got them this far.
Houston is a team that general manager Daryl Morey constructed as tailor-made to stop this goliath of a Warriors team, and defensively, they do just that. By putting P.J. Tucker, Luc Mbah a Moute, and Trevor Ariza on the same roster, the Rockets can switch over screens with ease.
But offensively, much noise was made as to how Harden and Paul would co-exist. They’ve done so seamlessly, with CP3 showing exactly why he and the Rockets were a perfect match in Game 5. Paul and Harden trade offensive possessions. When one gets it going, the other defers and vice-versa. Eric Gordon, too. He’s been healthy and has been a godsend off the bench. This group has been a match made in heaven, one that didn’t require much schematic tinkering, not even in the face of the pressure the Warriors applied after jumping out to a 2-1 series lead.
This series isn’t at all finished. Game 6 will be in Oakland, and if the Warriors are goliath on the road, they’re a demigod at home. But in a league that has attempted to carbon copy Golden State’s recipe for success, Houston has paved its own path. They’ve played their own game so well, they’ve suckered the Warriors into the very iso-heavy hero ball that will doom them if they don’t snap out of it. It won’t doom the Rockets; it’s what defines them.
Win or lose, the Rockets dodged the narrative and stuck true to their identity in the face of adversity. And if there’s any reason to respect them, it’s for doing what they do when the world tells them not to.
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