Three Takeaways From The Rockets Game 2 Win To Take A 2-0 Lead Over OKC

The Houston Rockets dominated Game 1 of their first round series with the Oklahoma City Thunder, as James Harden went off for 37 points and the Thunder’s offense stalled out. The expectation was things would be closer in Game 2, and that was the case, as the Thunder hung around but were never able to take control of the game, as Houston’s ability to get hot on offense let them make enough runs to pull away for a 111-98 win.

Houston did so without much help from James Harden, making the victory all the more impressive as their superstar guard had just 21 points (thanks to a late flurry to put the game away) to go along with nine assists and five rebounds. With Houston taking firm control of the series with the win here are our takeaways from Game 2.

No Team Has Bought Into A System More Than The Rockets

I don’t know if there’s a coach who is better at getting a team to fully buy into what he wants them to do more than Mike D’Antoni. It takes commitment from the front office to give him the right players, but he’s proven, whether with the Seven Seconds or Less Suns or here in Houston, that when allowed to do his thing without interference he will get complete roster buy in.

Houston’s small-ball experiment was laughed at initially, but there’s no denying what the Rockets are doing right now. On offense, it’s a lot of what they’ve done for years, just taken to another extreme, with nothing but drives to the rim and kickouts to the three-point line with their five-out sets. It’s the defense, however, that is most impressive to me. The only way for this to work is for everyone on that team to sell-out totally with the effort they give on the defensive end, and they’ve done exactly that.

Houston isn’t a great defensive team by any stretch, but they are as high energy on that end as you can ask for. Look at this possession, where P.J. Tucker makes me tired just watching him tag in and out of the paint, putting Luguentz Dort under pressure and leading to a Nerlens Noel midrange fadeaway at the shot clock buzzer — always a good result for a defense.

It’s one thing to get guys to agree to hoist threes and watch James Harden cook. It’s another to get them to commit to 48 minutes of flying around on defense in order to make things work in even the slightest way. Their switching and blitzing and pressure they apply to every pass makes initiating offense against them tough, even if you can eventually get to a relatively good look.

OKC Has A Gem In Luguentz Dort

This isn’t exactly news to Thunder fans, but in case anyone needed a national showcase of Dort’s defensive abilities to be sold on him as a top-level defender, you got it on Thursday afternoon. Dort gave Harden everything he could handle and managed to not only limit his shooting but also kept him off the free throw line, which is maybe the most impressive contribution any defender can make when checking Harden. The Thunder might have to tinker with lineups that remove Steven Adams when Dort’s on the floor because it gives the Rockets two guys to kind of hide on defense, but playing Dort against Harden is a must the rest of the way in this series after a Game 1 where Harden shredded every other Thunder wing when Dort was out with injury. It’s not always going to lead to as poor of a shooting night for the Rockets star, but the pressure he was able to apply to Harden made him uncomfortable and forced the others to beat them. The problem for OKC is, that happened.

Houston Has That Extra Gear

While there are times where the Rockets can go cold and things can get ugly, what separates them from the rest of the mid-seed contenders in the West behind the L.A. teams is that they have the highest ceiling when things are going right. The Thunder desperately need to find some offensive consistency in this series because they can’t get into the vaunted “game of runs” with a team that thrives on hot streaks like Houston. There were multiple times in Game 2 where the Thunder would be close or even have a slight lead and the Rockets would explode with an 11- or 13-0 run to suddenly take control. That happened in the fourth quarter with Harden on the bench, and once the star entered the game it became closing time and he helped Houston put a nice bow on the win.

The Rockets may have the biggest gap between their floor and ceiling of any of the teams most consider contenders, but that’s also what makes them so dangerous. If you cannot take advantage of those cold spells they’ll absolutely run away once they get hot, because make no mistake, the run is always coming and if you haven’t put some distance between you and them, they’ll take firm control of the game.