The Houston Rockets Are Going to Win the NBA Championship

The Houston Rockets Are Going to Win the NBA Championship

Well, I know I know this is going to sound insane, especially coming from me, who has been talking about how unbeatable the Oklahoma City Thunder are since roughly September of last year. I maintained that course throughout the entire season last year and into the playoffs that no one could beat this Oklahoma City Thunder team. Now, here we are in early December. They’re 21 and one, pacing to shatter the all-time record in NBA history for wins and every other single season team record in recorded history. And yet here I am sitting here before all of you suggesting that I believe that the Thunder are beatable this season. It has nothing to do with the Thunder themselves. They are, it’s true, better now than they were last year, but the league is different. Last year, there were no true contenders or competitors of the Oklahoma City Thunder. This season, there most certainly is. In fact, I was ready to proclaim the Houston Rockets as my pre-season title pick until the Fred Van Vleet injury in the summer. I did not think that they would be able to overcome that, at least not against the Thunder in a sevengame series. But well, the emergence of Reed Shepard, more on him in a moment, and just how much better Amen Thompson is this season, has all but negated that Van Vleet injury. And I think that the Houston Rockets have a very good chance of beating the Oklahoma City Thunder in a best of seven in May. And I am going to present the case as to why that is. Let’s start with my first point. The Houston Rockets are really good. Like already, we knew they were going to get better this season. They were, after all, the number two seed last year in the Western Conference behind only the Oklahoma City Thunder. And they did that with an extraordinarily young lineup and without the services of Kevin Durant, the prize offseason acquisition by the Houston Rockets this past summer. But look, you would think that there would be some kind of a learning curve, an acclamation process, feeling it out with Kevin Durant integrating him into the lineup before they really started firing on all cylinders. But well, that just hasn’t been the case. The Rockets are already the best team in the NBA, not named the Oklahoma City Thunder. In fact, the Rockets right now have the second best netrated offense leaguewide behind only the Denver Nuggets. And they are third leaguewide in total net defense behind only the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Detroit Pistons. So, they are a top three offense and defense. Not even the Thunder can claim that. They are the number one defense and the number four offense. But when you add it all up, the Houston Rockets are actually having a historically great season right now. They’re just being overshadowed by how dominant the Oklahoma City Thunder have been to this point of the regular season. And they have been alltime historically dominant. Last season, the Oklahoma City Thunder posted the second best total net rating in league history of a 12.8, second best only behind the 9596 72 win Chicago Bulls. They posted a 13.4 back about 20 years ago. But now here we are in the midst of this season at the quarter point and the Oklahoma City Thunder are plus 15.1 on the net rating scale obliterating the 72 win Chicago Bulls all-time record. But look at what the Houston Rockets are doing right now. They are plus 11.6 currently which is tied for fifth best all time tied with the 2016 2017 Golden State Warriors. the 73 win team that added Kevin Durant in their first season together. So yeah, the Houston Rockets are already doing this in just their first uh roughly 22 23 games together so far. They’re only going to get better as the season goes on. And I really did get spooked by that Fred Van Vleet injury. I thought they needed his calming veteran influence in the half court and to kind of run the show. But look, Amen Thompson is an undeniable star player and he is ascending right before our very eyes. But it’s really been the emergence of Reed Shepard which has essentially negated that Van Vleet injury. Reed Shepard who has been giving them great minutes off the bench. He’s actually all the way up to second currently in odds on favorite to win sixman of the year award. But even with the Houston Rockets boasting uh one of the best bench players in the NBA in Shepard, obviously the Oklahoma City Thunder have much more depth than the Houston Rockets. But in my estimation last year, the Oklahoma City Thunder had the best big three in Shay Gilis Alexander, Jaylen Williams, and Chad Hongren. At least when the playoffs started. Chet of course missed a major chunk of the regular season with that hip injury. But when the time came for the playoffs and they got into the postseason, I thought that the Thunder had the best big three in the business. But now I actually think the Houston Rockets big three is better. I think they now have the best big three in the NBA. That of course being Alred Shenon, Kevin Durant, and Amen Thompson. We’re going to talk a lot about Amen Thompson in this video, but Alfred Shenun is essentially a top 10 player when you look at all of his advanced analytics and metrics. He was an all-star last year. I think he’s going to be second team AllNNBA this season. He is the best player on that team. So Kevin Durant as your second best player. Well, you really have something percolating here if that is the case. And Amen Thompson again, the ascendant young star that he is. I really think that big three for big three, the Houston Rockets are better. And guess what? We actually saw them play already. It was in the first game of the regular season when the Oklahoma City Thunder got their rings and did their banner celebration commemorating last season’s NBA championship run. And the Houston Rockets undeniably were the better team that night through the vast majority of that game. It is really the only game all year I’ve watched a significant amount of the Thunder action this season. And yes, they have lost one game, but their one loss was to the Portland Trailblazers in a game that they were up 20 in. And they had uncharacteristic defensive meltdowns in the fourth quarter of giving up 40 points in the fourth to the Portland Trailblazers in that one loss. A two-point loss, mind you. That was their only loss all year. But the only game I’ve actually seen them beaten and out played in for the majority of a game was that opener against the Houston Rockets when the Rockets were just better than them and Albert Shenon was the best player on the floor that night, not Shay Gilis Alexander. So if I’m extrapolating this out to a best of seven in the postseason, I really like the ability of the Rockets. I like that elite offense with probably two AllNBA selections in Shenon and Durant to be able to somewhat at least figure out that defense. And the Rockets defense themselves, again, no slouch, the third best rated defense in the league. And they are massive. We didn’t even mention that. The biggest starting five uh since like the 1970s this year, the Houston Rockets. And much has been made of the two towers that the Oklahoma City Thunder can throw at you. and Isaiah Hartinstein and Chad Homegrren. And look, those two guys do come in handy. Two of the top four netrated defenders leaguewide. They do come in handy when the Thunder are playing Nicola Joic and the Denver Nuggets. But by and large, the Thunder also like to attack teams with their small ball lineup. The Rockets are so big and dominating underneath that they can force the Thunder away from the small ball lineup and play big with them. Of course, the Rockets can throw out two huge bigs as well in Shenon and Stephen Adams. It was the tactic they deployed in that opening game, which again, I thought the Rockets were the better team. They blew the game in double overtime. Lost an absolute heartbreaker, 125 to 124 in double overtime, and KD unequivocally choked it away. That’s not going to happen uh four times out of seven in the playoffs either, by the way. But in that game, the Rockets beat the Thunder up on the boards. They outrebounded them 52-38 with their massive lineup. But speaking of KD, that gets me to my second point, which is the Kevin Durant factor. Durant has been here before. He has played a historical entity in the postseason and he was dominating that historical entity before he choked it away. Now, I know I just said that KD likely won’t choke games away with any regularity in the postseason, but he did do just that all the way back in 2016 when his at the time Oklahoma City Thunder were playing the all-time NBA record setter for wins in a season, that season’s Golden State Warriors. In 2016, the 73-9 Warriors in the Western Conference Finals, the Oklahoma City Thunder, led by Kevin Durant, were annihilating this 73- win team, obliterating them, blowing them off of the courts. After the Thunder won game one and lost game two to split the first two games in Oracle, the series shifted back to Oklahoma City where they destroyed the Golden State Warriors in both games three and four to the tune of 133 to 105 and 118 to 94 to take to seize command of that series with a 3-1 lead. Now, of course, it was a surprise to absolutely nobody when the series shifted back to Golden State and the 73- win team staved off elimination and beat the Oklahoma City Thunder by nine. But then in game six in Oklahoma City, the Thunder let one get away and it was behind the epic gag job by KD. His Thunder were up by seven points in the fourth quarter with 5 minutes remaining and an opportunity to close out that 73-9 win team in Oklahoma City. A fourth quarter where Kevin Durant had only four points on one of seven shooting. And yes, Klay Thompson went berserk in that fourth quarter and had one of the all-time legendary playoff performances. But had it not been for KD’s pants pooping session again, one of seven, four points in a fourth quarter, they entered up eight and were still up seven with five minutes to go. They would have won that series. Of course, much made of the all-time snake job by KD in the off season in slithering his way to join that Golden State Warriors team. A decision which still plagues and haunts Kevin Durant to this day. Well, just think of what kind of a repair he can do to his legacy if he takes out a 75 win team, the all-time record holder in the postseason this year. They’re going to set and break all kinds of regular season records. They’re defending champions. KD has the opportunity to go and beat that team now in the playoffs and win an NBA championship. And just think of all of the goodwill that will create for his legacy in undoing some of the harm that he did with that decision to join the 73- win team that beat him nearly 10 years ago. And KD has the benefit again of doing it not as even the best player on this team. The ask isn’t that extreme. The lift not that much. Albridge Shenon is going to shoulder the majority of the load. KD just has to execute and win games for them down the stretch. and their defense is going to keep them in games against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the half court. And speaking of defense, let’s get to my third and final point, which is Amen Thompson. I told you that we’re going to talk a lot about him in this video. The kid is an absolute stud. He is one of the best defensive players in the entire NBA, and he will draw the head-to-head assignment with SGA. He was doing a great job against SGA in that opening game until he got into foul trouble and Reed Shepard had to come in and well Reed Shepard got eviscerated by SGA and SGA did also shoot a ton of free throws which that is really going to be the name of the game. A lot of people make a lot of stuff about Shay Gilis Alexander the free throws he shoots. Is he a foul baiter? Is he playing unethical basketball? Can Amen Thompson stay out of foul trouble four times out of seven? Because if he does, he can at least slow down SGA. Amen. Thompson last year in just his second season at the age of 22 made a first team allNNBA defensive selection and finished fifth leaguewide in defensive player of the year voting. He’s better now. He’s 6’7, 200 lb. He’s bigger and longer than Shay Gilis Alexander. He’s stronger, more athletic. He can at least challenge SGA and make it difficult on him. Can the rest of his team do enough against this massive lineup, the third best defense netrated in the league of the Houston Rockets to overcome Amen Thompson neutralizing SGA to some degree? Again, these are questions that I feel very good about the answers at this point in time in the favor of the Houston Rockets. So, yes, while the Oklahoma City Thunder are going to set the all-time record in relative defensive rating this season, becoming the best rated defense probably in modern NBA history. They’re going to win 7576 games, breaking the 2015 2016 Golden State uh Warriors win record of 73. probably Shay Gilgis Alexander is going to run away with yet another league MVP because the Denver Nuggets are without two of their four best players for like 30 plus games this season. They’re going to run away with best record in the West, run away with the best record in the league. So, more than likely SGA, who’s going to finish top three in scoring, is going to be rewarded yet again with another league MVP. They will have all the regular season accolades. Chad Holgrren is probably going to win defensive player of the year this season. They will be coronated going into the postseason, but not so fast because there is a sleeping giant out there in the NBA right now that nobody is paying attention to. It is the Houston Rockets, and I think that they have a damn good shot to beat this Oklahoma City Thunder team in the NBA playoffs. But guys, let me know what you think in the comments section. Please do like the video, comment on it, hype it up if you got the points, and as always, please do make sure you are subscribed with notifications turned on to stay upto-date with more from me. Until next time, guys.

Yes, the Oklahoma City Thunder are going to break the all-time regular season record for wins…but just like the last team who did it, that will not translate to the ultimate goal in the postseason.