Chris Paul's Shocking Streak Ended and A Few Insightful Rockets Stats.
Chris Paul missed 14 games due to injury this season. Normally Chris is pretty healthy. However that isn't the historic start he has had this season. He won the first 15 games he played in this year. Granted the first game he barely played but up until 12/20/17 when the Lakers beat him he was 15-0. The teams he beat are listed in order below.
Win 1- @ Golden State Warriors 10/17/17
Win 2- @ Phoenix Suns 11/16/17
Win 3- @ Memphis Grizzlies 11/18/17
Win 4- VS Denver Nuggets 11/22/17
Win 5- VS New York Knicks 11/25/17
Win 6- VS Brooklyn Nets 11/27/17
Win 7- VS Indiana Pacers 11/29/17, Mew Yyy
Win 8- @ Los Angeles Lakers 12/3/17
Win 9- @ Utah Jazz 12/7/17
Win 10- @ Portland Trailblazers 12/9/17
Win 11- VS New Orleans Pelicans 12/11/17
Win 12- VS Charlotte Hornets 12/13/17
Win 13- VS San Antonio Spurs 12/15/17
Win 14- VS Milwaukee Bucks 12/16/17
Win 15- VS Utah Jazz 12/18/17
Then he ran into the Lakers which looked really good against them. The Lakers almost blew a big lead sparked by Kyle Kuzma's 24 points. James Harden scored 51 trying to keep CP3's stats intact. He couldn't. This is a modern marvel of a streak that we should wonder how long it could have went or if we would have gotten to this point had Chris Paul played the rest of October and the first half of November. While it is impressive he didn't necessarily drop the best stat lines and seems more concerned about winning games than getting assists and scoring the basketball.
So if CP3 isn't performing at maximum capacity or at least the volume we are used to looking at him in then what are the Rockets doing right?
The first thing is Clint Capela is 6th in Player Efficiency Rating(PER). What is PER? It was develeoped by John Hollinger, now with the Grizzlies but formerly of ESPN where he created the stat. It adds together the players positive stats and takes away the negative stats and returns a per minute analysis of the player. CP3 also ranks 8th among eligble players. (9th if we include Nikola Mirotic who has played 6-7 games and would rank 7th.) What else could be contributing to the Rockets winning?
Could it be they are on pace through 29 games.(again not counting the Lakers game played last night because I already had all my research conducted pre game) to shoot more 3’s than any other team. The 2016-2017 Golden State Warriors shot 2500 three point shots. Right now through 29 games the Houston Rockets have shot the ball 1254 times. That's a feat. We will see if they can still hit at a high clip and continue attempting shots at that rate. If they do they will finish around 200 shots above the Warriors last championship teams 3pt attempt rate. What could be another motivating factor for the Rockets?
James Harden was robbed as the MVP winner last year. I'm sure that definitely motivated him to take his play up another level, and he has. His GM(Darryl Morey) also went out and got him another star in Chris Paul after Dwight Howard failed to gain traction in Houston. Clint Capela filled the Dwight Howard role without the bad back. The only thing Harden really lost was another shooter without a conscious, Lou Williams who was traded to the Clippers. He still has combo guard Eric Gordon beside him but we always have health concerns about Gordon. James Harden seems to take winning seriously as should the MVP voters and he has to be the front runner at this point of the season. But a lot of this stuff happen to have shades of previous Mike D'Antoni's teams. What else has changed?
The Rockets currently have the 7th best defensive PPG in the league at 103 points. Mike D'Antoni's team in Los Angeles was commonly referred to by former host of Max and Marcellus and current First Take Host Max Kellerman as Mike Antoni because the team plays no D. These Rockets are shocking the world as James Harden is constantly shown on highlights not trying his best on defense. Even his defense has saw an uptick this year much to the chagrin of GIF and meme fans alike.
To recap, James Harden is on fire and should be working on his 2nd MVP trophy. CP3 was unbeatable until 12/20. Clint Capela is a top 10 PER NBA player. And the shocker of the century... The Rockets are playing defense! Let me know your thoughts on the Rockets crazy start as well as your Harden VS Westbrook comments from last year(remember that Harden put Westbrook out of the playoffs last year and that the majority of your MVPS are actually from teams that have home games in the first round of the playoffs.) and your Harden for MVP comments for this year below.
Win 1- @ Golden State Warriors 10/17/17
Win 2- @ Phoenix Suns 11/16/17
Win 3- @ Memphis Grizzlies 11/18/17
Win 4- VS Denver Nuggets 11/22/17
Win 5- VS New York Knicks 11/25/17
Win 6- VS Brooklyn Nets 11/27/17
Win 7- VS Indiana Pacers 11/29/17, Mew Yyy
Win 8- @ Los Angeles Lakers 12/3/17
Win 9- @ Utah Jazz 12/7/17
Win 10- @ Portland Trailblazers 12/9/17
Win 11- VS New Orleans Pelicans 12/11/17
Win 12- VS Charlotte Hornets 12/13/17
Win 13- VS San Antonio Spurs 12/15/17
Win 14- VS Milwaukee Bucks 12/16/17
Win 15- VS Utah Jazz 12/18/17
Then he ran into the Lakers which looked really good against them. The Lakers almost blew a big lead sparked by Kyle Kuzma's 24 points. James Harden scored 51 trying to keep CP3's stats intact. He couldn't. This is a modern marvel of a streak that we should wonder how long it could have went or if we would have gotten to this point had Chris Paul played the rest of October and the first half of November. While it is impressive he didn't necessarily drop the best stat lines and seems more concerned about winning games than getting assists and scoring the basketball.
So if CP3 isn't performing at maximum capacity or at least the volume we are used to looking at him in then what are the Rockets doing right?
The first thing is Clint Capela is 6th in Player Efficiency Rating(PER). What is PER? It was develeoped by John Hollinger, now with the Grizzlies but formerly of ESPN where he created the stat. It adds together the players positive stats and takes away the negative stats and returns a per minute analysis of the player. CP3 also ranks 8th among eligble players. (9th if we include Nikola Mirotic who has played 6-7 games and would rank 7th.) What else could be contributing to the Rockets winning?
Could it be they are on pace through 29 games.(again not counting the Lakers game played last night because I already had all my research conducted pre game) to shoot more 3’s than any other team. The 2016-2017 Golden State Warriors shot 2500 three point shots. Right now through 29 games the Houston Rockets have shot the ball 1254 times. That's a feat. We will see if they can still hit at a high clip and continue attempting shots at that rate. If they do they will finish around 200 shots above the Warriors last championship teams 3pt attempt rate. What could be another motivating factor for the Rockets?
James Harden was robbed as the MVP winner last year. I'm sure that definitely motivated him to take his play up another level, and he has. His GM(Darryl Morey) also went out and got him another star in Chris Paul after Dwight Howard failed to gain traction in Houston. Clint Capela filled the Dwight Howard role without the bad back. The only thing Harden really lost was another shooter without a conscious, Lou Williams who was traded to the Clippers. He still has combo guard Eric Gordon beside him but we always have health concerns about Gordon. James Harden seems to take winning seriously as should the MVP voters and he has to be the front runner at this point of the season. But a lot of this stuff happen to have shades of previous Mike D'Antoni's teams. What else has changed?
The Rockets currently have the 7th best defensive PPG in the league at 103 points. Mike D'Antoni's team in Los Angeles was commonly referred to by former host of Max and Marcellus and current First Take Host Max Kellerman as Mike Antoni because the team plays no D. These Rockets are shocking the world as James Harden is constantly shown on highlights not trying his best on defense. Even his defense has saw an uptick this year much to the chagrin of GIF and meme fans alike.
To recap, James Harden is on fire and should be working on his 2nd MVP trophy. CP3 was unbeatable until 12/20. Clint Capela is a top 10 PER NBA player. And the shocker of the century... The Rockets are playing defense! Let me know your thoughts on the Rockets crazy start as well as your Harden VS Westbrook comments from last year(remember that Harden put Westbrook out of the playoffs last year and that the majority of your MVPS are actually from teams that have home games in the first round of the playoffs.) and your Harden for MVP comments for this year below.
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