You really don’t appreciate a point guard until you don’t have one. Just ask the Houston Rockets, who lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder, 125-124, in double overtime on Tuesday in a game it felt like they would have won had Fred VanVleet been on the floor to organize composed, consistent offensive sets.
But they didn’t have VanVleet, and they’re not going to for the rest of the year due to his torn ACL. To whatever degree one game can be any sort of reliable future indicator, they’re going to need to figure this out.
First, some qualifiers:
Despite their offense looking equals parts chaotic and cramped for the better part of the game, the Rockets still managed to convert enough tough buckets, and secure enough offensive rebounds (16!), to lead for most of the game against the defending champs. Alperen Sengun was out of his mind with 39 points. Kevin Durant made a bunch of highly contested shots look easy, as he does. Amen Thompson looked terrific getting downhill and initiating leveraged contact to create comfortable finishing space, especially when he was provided a runway. Jabari Smith Jr. made a number of high-stakes/bailout shots. The Rockets were playing against the best defense in the basketball world. Sure, Jalen Williams was out, but all that meant was more Cason Wallace, who is an absolute dog on the ball. Houston is not going to face this kind of pressure on a nightly basis, and as such, it surely won’t look this out of sorts moving forward. It was the first game of the season (this warrants constant repeating) and they’re trying to integrate a brand-new superstar in Durant, who likes the ball in particular places and in stationary positions that don’t necessarily lend themselves to full-floor space creation. The Rockets are not going to be a great movement offense and will, generally speaking, have to do their damage ugly — with sheer size and difficult individual shot-making.
Still, Houston turned the ball over on an abysmal 22% of its possessions (24 total) and scored just 109.7 points per 100 possessions, per…
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