Late to the party here, but thank goodness we have Chris Paul with these new rules. Teams usually hold a timeout or two in their pockets in case of last seconds needing the ball advanced to half court. So this year, the last few minutes of a game will be much less coach controlled than in the past. The NBA used to be like this before the tv proliferation. End of games are so micromanaged nowadays and college coaches have even more control there. So I think win/loss record in close games will be more effected by player intelligence/execution this year and that in theory should be in favor of the Rockets with arguably the smartest floor coach in the game. It's always been a combo of players/coaches/luck to determine these close games, but I really think these rule tweaks can help the Rockets as currently constructed.
