Was the kick to the nuts intentional? If not, he should have not gotten the technical. I don’t think Dillon deserved the tech, but he has certainly earned the suspension with all the stupid techs he has committed this year. This suspension could potentially cost us the 2nd seed. We sorely need his shooting to have any chance against the Thunder. I never thought Dillon would become this important to the team, but he has been really great this year, just wish he could quit with the boneheaded techs.
https://www.espn.com/nba/insider/st...-playoff-contenders-top-weakness-exploit-them Houston Rockets Weakness: Half-court offense Back at full strength, Houston has improved in half-court execution since last month, when I noted it was 26th in points per play on its first attempt to score outside of transition, according to Cleaning the Glass. The Rockets are up to 22nd, still the worst among above-.500 teams but no longer such a historic outlier for a contending team. Overall, Houston's offense ranks 11th in per possession scoring because the Rockets compensate by aggressively crashing the offensive glass (they're No. 1 in the league by a wide margin in points per missed shot, according to Cleaning the Glass) and getting out in transition. Houston's rate of half-court plays is seventh lowest. Still, those easy points tend to dry up in the playoffs. The 2022-23 Knicks, another team that relied heavily on second chances, crashed from fourth in offensive rating during the regular season to 13th in the playoffs, winning a rock fight with Cleveland in the first round before being knocked off by the Miami Heat. Who might exploit it: Clippers, Thunder The Rockets are second in half-court defense, per Cleaning the Glass, but they could face the Clippers or the Thunder. The Clippers would be a dangerous first-round opponent based on their stout defense, league-leading defensive rebound rate and advantage over Houston in playoff experience. Although the Rockets have won three regular-season meetings (the teams play Wednesday in L.A.), Kawhi Leonard hasn't played against Houston this season, and James Harden missed the most recent matchup. If the Rockets can get to the conference finals as the No. 2 seed, it's all gravy but they've also managed to hand the Thunder two of their 13 losses during a five-game season series. On Friday, Houston shot an effective 56% from the field (counting 3s as 1.5 field goals) in a 125-111 win. -- Pelton
Numeric number of games must be won to guarantee this spot DNCD does not control it's destiny X cannot win this spot
