Chris Paul has often said he can always get a teammate a good shot. He has said it so often, he now prefaces that with "I've always said ..."
In his first week of games with the Rockets, however, he has added another observation about running the Rockets' offense.
It is easier to shoot when the rim is lit by a green light.
Players live for that sort of freedom. Rockets players, particularly veteran newcomers, delight in it.
They will never feel as free to fire away as they did in Thursday's 144-82 blowout of the overmatched, injury-depleted Shanghai Sharks.