It’s here. With the NBA season set to tip-off tonight on TSN1, TSN4 and TSN5 at 8pm et, TSN.ca takes a look at what the addition of Carmelo Anthony means for the Rockets’ chances of taking down the Warriors.


Things might be drastically different if Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals didn’t end the way it did. With the Houston Rockets up one on the Golden State Warriors in the final minute, Chris Paul fell awkwardly holding his right leg after a shot attempt. As play continued, Paul stayed down. He left the game soon after and was not able to play again in the series. Despite a Game 5 win, Houston’s championship hopes were in doubt. After a lopsided loss in their next matchup, the Rockets went 7-44 from three-point land in Game 7, including an NBA-record 27 misses in a row at one point, as the Warriors punched a ticket to their fourth straight NBA Finals.

It’s impossible to tell for sure if Paul’s absence was the deciding factor, but it’s safe to say the Rockets’ historically potent offence dried up at the time they needed it most. Maybe the fact it happened with their floor general on the sidelines wasn’t so coincidental.

Playoff heartbreak aside, Houston looked like the best team in basketball right up until the very end. They set a franchise record in wins with 65. James Harden was named MVP. They had the league’s second-highest scoring offence and made almost three more three-pointers a game than the next highest team, attempting close to seven more. If we thought Mike D’Antoni’s Phoenix Suns from a decade ago revolutionized offensive basketball, his Rockets’ have taken it to a whole new level.

Houston has done everything else, now they just have to get past the Warriors. They’ve been bounced by Golden State in the playoffs three of the last four years. After last year’s Game 7 loss, Harden said Houston didn’t have the “extra juice” they needed. Will they this year? Let’s take a look.

 

What they gained

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The Rockets went hard after Carmelo Anthony in 2014. They even went as far as hanging a banner from the Toyota Center with Anthony in a Rockets jersey wearing his trademark No. 7 despite having Jeremy Lin on the roster with the very same number. It didn’t work as Anthony elected to remain with the Knicks, but fast forward four years and the Rockets finally have their guy.

The problem is, he isn’t nearly the same guy he was four years ago. Anthony spent last season with the Oklahoma City Thunder and never looked comfortable in their offence. The 34-year-old forward posted career lows in scoring, field goal percentage, field goals attempted, field goals made, free throw percentage and assists. In other words, he had the worst season of his career by far.

Anthony’s days of being a No. 1 option on offence are likely long over. But can he slide in efficiently as a secondary piece in Houston’s up-tempo offence? Numbers suggest he can.

His shooting from beyond the arc was one of the few areas he excelled in last season, connecting on 35.7 per cent of three point attempts. It gets better. Anthony shot 37.8 per cent on catch-and-shoot threes and 42.8 on threes deemed as “wide open.” He should get more of those looks than he ever has with Paul and Harden setting him up in an offence that lives and dies – but mostly lives – with the three ball.

Yes, it’s a small sample, but Anthony looked promising in the preseason. He shot 47 per cent from the field and 50 per cent from deep.

“He’s going to be perfect. James and Chris don’t have to carry the load. He can make plays,” D’Antoni told the Houston Chronicle, which is intriguing because Anthony and D’Antoni clashed at times during their tenure in New York. That’s behind them now, they say.

Whether he will come off the bench or not is still up in the air, but if Anthony buys what D’Antoni and the Rockets are selling, they could be dangerous.

Houston also added Brandon Knight and Marquese Chriss in a trade with the Suns and inked forward James Ennis to a two-year deal. Ennis shot over 50 per cent from deep during the preseason, so he gives the league’s best three-point shooting team yet another threat.

 

What they lost

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The Rockets were a different team last season not because of their scoring output or their three-point shooting. In fact, they scored almost three more points per game fewer than two seasons ago.

The difference was their defence. They went from fifth-worst to eighth-best and had an above average relative defensive rating (a team’s defensive rating compared to league average) for the first time since Dwight Howard’s departure in 2015. 

But it could be tougher this time around. Gone are Trevor Ariza (Suns) and Luc Mbah a Moute (Clippers), two three-and-D players that anchored Houston’s defensive perimeter. Coupled with the addition of Anthony – whose defensive struggles have been well documented – how much worse are the Rockets going to be defensively? “You hate to lose those guys,” he said. “They’re great, without a doubt, but we’re going to be really good.

“We’re missing some guys, but we have enough. We have plenty enough to be just as good.”

If D’Antoni is worried about the defence, he isn’t admitting it.

Houston traded three-point marksman Ryan Anderson to the Suns in August, but shed the two years remaining on his contract at over $40 million. It’s probably a worthwhile move considering Houston’s firepower from beyond the arc.

 

What it all means

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It isn’t just the Warriors the Rockets will have to go through in the Wild West to reach their first Finals since 1995. If the Timberwolves patch things up with Jimmy Butler and are able to play out the season with minimal nonsense, they have the star power to make some noise. Any team with Russell Westbrook and Paul George on their roster does, too. Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert give the Jazz one of the NBA’s best young duos in the league. The Spurs still managed to win 47 games without a healthy Kawhi Leonard. The Nuggets are good. So are the Pelicans and the Trail Blazers. And never count out LeBron James. Ever.

That said, like last year, it’s still probably a two-horse race. But what a race it could be if the ‘Melo experiment works.

Was the addition of Anthony big enough to match the Warriors’ addition of four-time All-Star DeMarcus Cousins? Maybe not. But can the Rockets dethrone the defending champs anyway? Maybe.

Houston proved last year that they were close to knocking off Golden State and if Paul didn’t get hurt at the worst possible time and if Houston didn’t have a historically bad night from deep, they might have.

In other words, they have a chance. In an era ruled by one of the most dominant teams ever, that’s all the Rockets can ask for.