The 2018-19 NBA regular season saw seven games on Saturday. Without Chris Paul, James Harden again brought a tough win to the Houston Rockets against the San Antonio Spurs (108-101) with incredible individual performances. One day earlier, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame released the eligible candidates for the 2019 Class - Rick Adelman, George Karl, Marcus Camby and Mark Eaton made it onto the list for the first time.
Victory only reveals more of Houston's problems
Mike D'Antoni, head coach of the Houston Rockets /VCG Photo
Houston's Harden scored a court high of 39 points, including nine in the last three minutes to help his team seal the victory. Clint Capela also stood out with his 21 points and 23 rebounds.
San Antonio's DeMar DeRozan dropped a team best of 28 points plus seven rebounds and eight assists. Though LaMarcus Aldridge also dropped 18 points, he did not even create one free throw, which was disqualified for a 2.11-meter big man.
Perhaps they were hurt by the loss in rebounds to the Miami Heat on Thursday (41-61), the Rockets paid much more attention to this area and their efforts paid off as they took 15 more rebounds than the Spurs (58-43) in Saturday's game thanks to Capela (23) and P.J. Tucker (16). Yet ironically, Houston trailed by 20 in scoring in the paint (32-52).
Clint Capela #15 of the Rockets defends DeMar Derozan of the Spurs. /VCG Photo
This led to the first problem of the Rockets in offense: they are too dependent on and obsessed with 3-pt shooting. In this game, Houston won in the first and third quarters, exactly when they were hot from the 3-pt line. By contrast, in the second and fourth quarters when their shooting let the team down, the Rockets scored only 13 points in Q2 and even saw the Spurs regain the lead in the last three minutes in Q4.
Harden was again hero of the game for Houston but got his 39 points via 34 attempts, including 19 three-pointers, which was not good efficiency, to say the least. It's true that Capela made his contributions but he relied on passes from his teammates, or more specifically, Harden, to score.
James Harden #13 is fouled by Marco Belinelli #18. /VCG Photo
That was the second problem the Rockets suffered from: The team did not know how to play without Harden. Even if Paul did not get hurt, he's ever the player from last season, meaning that Harden had to do everything in offense from scoring to orchestrating. It's much easier for opponents to make their plan in defense when they know exactly what the Rockets would do in offense, especially in the playoffs.
The Rockets have been trying to improve their franchise through trades and they knew what they needed: A qualified wingman who can shoot three-pointers and defend and a point guard who can make play. However, the team did not even have the least satisfactory leverage to pull any deal.
Their general manager Daryl Morey tried to use Brandon Knight plus a future first-round draft pick to trade with other teams but so far no team seemed interested. In fact, this is not about what you can get by giving up Knight but more like what you can give up to send Knight away. The cruel truth is, a player that no one wants may be the most valuable leverage Houston can afford to offer.
Brandon Knight comes back from injury but the truth is he cannot give what the Rockets need from him. /VCG Photo
There are still 50 games left for Houston in the regular season and Harden already played 36.6 minutes on average per game, including five 40-minute+ ones. On one hand, such high usage will leave a big question mark on how much energy there will be left for Harden in the playoffs; on the other hand, the Rockets cannot afford to let Harden rest because that may kick them out the playoffs in the wild Western Conference.
Adelman, Karl, Camby and Eaton become Hall of Fame candidates
From left to right: George Karl, Marcus Camby, Rick Adelman and Mark Eaton /VCG Photo
On the candidate list of the 2019 Class of Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame released on Friday, several new names drew people's attention: two 1,000-win head coaches Rick Adelman (1,042) and George Karl (1,175), 2007 NBA Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY) Marcus Camby and two-time DPOY (1985 and 1989) Mark Eaton.
The finalists of the 2019 Class will be announced on February 15, 2019 during the NBA All-Star Weekend in Charlotte, North Carolina before the results are unveiled during the NCAA Final Four in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The enshrinement will happen between September 5 and 7, 2019.
Other games on Saturday included: (away teams come first)
Denver Nuggets 111-132 Los Angeles Clippers
Phoenix Suns 146-149 Washington Wizards
Toronto Raptors 101-126 Philadelphia 76ers
Milwaukee Bucks 87-94 Miami Heat
Dallas Mavericks 116-120 Golden State Warriors
Oklahoma City Thunder 107-106 Utah Jazz