The Houston Rockets Died By The 3 Against The Warriors

The Houston Rockets are out of the NBA playoffs after losing Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals to the Golden State Warriors 101-92. After leading 54-43 at halftime, the Rockets proceded to play one of the dumbest half of basketball I’ve ever seen, thanks largely to their love affair with the 3-point line.

In one atrocious stretch during the third and four quarter, the Rockets missed 27 3-pointers in a row. Twenty. Six. At one point they missed 29-of-30. They went 0-for-14 in the third quarter alone. Houston kept firing threes despite missing consistently. It was as stunning as it was stupid. It was stunningly stupid.

Oh, then there’s this:

For the game, the Rockets were a horrendous 7-for-44 (15.9 percent) from beyond the arc.

When they built their lead in the first half, they relied on driving and exploiting an advantage in the paint. In fact, they were 29-for-46 (63.0 percent) from 2-point range for the game. Why did they stop attacking the basket after the first half? That’s a great question that someone should have to answer.

The Rockets played themselves out of the playoffs and they did it by lazily launching 3-pointers instead of attacking the paint.