At the heart of it all was an idea. What if the great fault of the 2015–16 Houston Rockets, peevish and middling, was a reliance on half measures? Houston had run the break, but so inconsistently as to rank seventh in pace—only slightly faster than the league average. The ball was put in James Harden’s hands, yet Dwight Howard still insisted on diverting the offense into token post-ups. Harden, to be fair, also took months working his way into primary ball-handler shape. No team in the NBA attempted more three-pointers last season proportional to their total offense, but Houston ultimately created those high-value shots for an underwhelming collection of shooters.
Mike D’Antoni’s Rockets Go Full-Throttle
