Though the 2017-18 Houston Rockets did not win the NBA championship, they could still be argued as perhaps the best team in franchise history — and among the greatest in NBA history not to win a title.
Led by James Harden in his MVP season and Chris Paul, those Rockets went 65-17 in the regular season, which was seven games better than the previous top record (58-24 in 1993-94) in franchise history.
They won with ease in the first two rounds of the playoffs by 4-1 series margins, and took a 3-2 lead on the defending NBA champion Warriors in the Western Conference Finals. Unfortunately for them, Paul pulled his hamstring at the end of Game 5 and wasn’t able to return, and Golden State rallied to win the series and yet another title.
Though the finish was heartbreaking, those Rockets will still be remembered as a great team, and by far the closest Houston has come to winning the NBA crown since its two title runs in 1994 and 1995.
According to GM Daryl Morey, the 2020 Rockets — now led by Harden and another former MVP in Russell Westbrook — may have a similar chance, assuming the 2019-20 season restarts as expected this July. Here’s what Morey said Tuesday on Fox Sports 1’s First Things First:
The 65-win team was actually one of the best teams not to win. This team, I think, has every good a chance as that team. The best way to win a title is to have a great team and be in it every year. We’ve done that. [James Harden] is going to go down as one of the greatest players of all time, for sure. And it’s my job to help him. The fact that we haven’t won always does weighs on me.
At face value, the comparison might seem odd, considering the 2017-18 Rockets had (65-17) by far the NBA’s best record, whereas the 2019-20 group (40-24) is currently tied for just the No. 5 spot in the West. But there are some extenuating circumstances with this year’s record.
For starters, the West standings are so tightly bunched that they still could finish as high as No. 2. Beyond that, though, there are a handful reasons to think that the Rockets might outperform in the playoffs, at least relative to their regular-season standard.
It’s the first year of Westbrook in Houston, which led to an ongoing integration process, and they also made a significant mid-season change by trading starting center Clint Capela for forward Robert Covington and embracing a smaller system, led by 6-foot-5 P.J. Tucker at center.
The NBA’s unusual training camp before the playoffs, owing to the league’s multi-month shutdown due to COVID-19, could make it easier for head coach Mike D’Antoni to implement those changes than it would have been on the fly. The extended layoff has also given Eric Gordon a chance to get healthy after playing through knee problems all season.
There’s also the matter of competition. The Los Angeles Lakers (49-14), while very good, don’t appear to be as daunting as the 2017-18 Warriors — who were defending NBA champions and led by a pair of former MVPs in Steph Curry and Kevin Durant, along with two additional All-Stars in Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.
So even if the 2019-20 Rockets aren’t quite as good as 2017-18, a case can still be made that their title odds aren’t too dissimilar, especially when adjusting for competition. There’s also potential for increased randomness this year due to the odd circumstances of playoff games at a neutral site without fans, all shortly after a layoff of over four months.
Luck wasn’t on the side of Morey and the Rockets two years ago, when Paul went down at the most inopportune time. Perhaps the unusual circumstances of 2020 could bring an opportunity for that to even out.
