The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Rockets’ 3-point futility has to be a new low
In their Game 7 home loss to the Warriors in the Western Conference finals, the Rockets missed 27 straight 3-pointers. That kind of futility, for shock value, has to be an all-time low, writes Mark Podolski.
How was your day at work?
Did you mess up an assignment?
Did you make the same mistake over and over again?
At what point, after 27 straight times making the same mistake, would expect your boss to say, “Take the rest of the day off”? Or you might expect him/her to say, “Maybe it’s time we did something different,” right?
Well, welcome to the Houston Rockets’ world — where misery reigns today.
Cavaliers fans throughout Northeast Ohio watching Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals on May 28, and hoping the Rockets would advance to play the Cavs in the NBA Finals, had to be in disbelief.
An NBA team — not a high school or Division III college team (more on that in a bit) — missed 27 straight 3-pointers during a stretch in Game 7. Twenty-seven straight. Houston actually made seven 3s in Game 7, but missed on 37 attempts. That 7 for 44 was a 16 percent clip.
The Warriors took full advantage and won the series to set up a fourth straight matchup between them and the Cavs in the Finals.
No matter how the Finals play out, the Rockets’ misery from 3-point range will likely go down as a great “What if?” in NBA history.
What if — during their stretch of misery — Houston made just a handful of those 27 shots from 3-point range in Game 7? The Rockets lost by nine points, 10192. A 3-for-27 effort — depending on other circumstances — might have forced overtime. A 4-for-27 effort might have won the game.
But 0-for-27? Fans, sports announcers, media members throw the word “unbelievable” around, but in this case it fits.
The Rockets weren’t just another team. They had the NBA’s best regular-season record at 65-17 — by six games! — and lived by the 3-point shot all season.
To go 0-for-27 from 3 at any point in a game for an NBA team is about as unfathomable as it gets.
Which begs the question — at what point should the Rockets had stopped shooting 3-pointers?
An NFL coach would not send a kicker out after 27 straight misses on field goals. The kicker would probably get cut before the streak reach 10, perhaps sooner. That coach might stop attempting field goals completely.
The great Tom Brady might even bench himself if he threw 27 straight incompletions in a game.
No way a baseball manager keeps a pitcher out there after throwing 27 straight balls. No way it ever gets to that point.
It’s not uncommon for goalies in hockey during the Stanley Cup playoffs to get the heave-ho after allowing a few quick goals in a first period. In the Rockets’ case, nothing much changed. They kept firing away.
I asked a few of the top high school and college coaches in the area what they would do if anything remotely similar occurred in one of their team’s games.
Their responses: VASJ BOYS BASKETBALL COACH BABE KWASNIAK » “Can’t change at that point. That’s what you have done
all year.” MENTOR BOYS BASKETBALL
COACH BOB KRIZANCIC » “We do tell (our players) to immediately attack the bucket if we miss about seven to eight straight (3-pointers). Get to the free-throw line, then pop the 3.” JOHN CARROLL MEN’S BASKETBALL COACH PETE MORAN » “My philosophy is that if you put in the time getting shots up before or after practice consistently, I will never tell an individual to stop shooting the ball.”
Unfortunately for the Rockets, the players have to live with 0-for-27 for the rest of their NBA careers.
Maybe there’s a 0-for28 stretch to be had by an NBA team one day. Until then, this performance goes down in infamy.
Unbelievable.