Stephen Curry: Doing More With…More?

Harden Doing Too Much?

Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

It’s been unfortunate that the Rockets have suffered from the injury bug for most of the season, losing Howard for a considerable amount of time, a promising role player in Terrence Jones and most recently, Patrick Beverley. Harden has been their one player that has been consistently elite, the only player in Houston able to create for himself.

But if we take out those players AND Harden and put in a lineup consisting of Trevor Ariza, Corey Brewer, Donatas Motiejunas, Josh Smith and Jason Terry (Houston’s most used lineup without their superstar), the Rockets have an offensive rating of 100.4 and a defensive rating of 90.1. That lineup’s net rating of 10.3 is only 1.2 lower than Houston’s most used lineup that includes Harden, Howard and Beverley.

If Curry is taken out of the rotation, the Warriors struggle heavily as aforementioned; without Harden, Howard, Beverley and Jones, the Rockets still look rather competitive, contrary to popular belief.

In layman’s terms, it’s because the Warriors rely so heavily on Curry to make things happen for everyone else. In regard to this point, Harden is like a supercharger for a car — with it, the car is able to drive faster, but you don’t necessarily need it to get from Point A to Point B. Curry, on the other hand, is like the engine: if you take it out, all the other parts built around it lose their purpose. Harden is a huge piece in the system; the difference is that Curry is the piece that the Warriors built everything around.

This can relate back to what Steve Nash, a former MVP, was to the Phoenix Suns when Mike D’Antoni and Alvin Gentry were utilizing the “7-seconds or less” offense. They gave the team a structure to follow, a foundation to base everything upon, but most of their offense was entrusted to their point guard and his instincts. Take him out, the team loses it’s engine.

If you take out Harden off the Rockets, if you remove his isolations, the Rockets still look serviceable because he’s not what their system was built on primarily. When Harden missed the game against the Atlanta Hawks — the team with the second best record in the NBA — the Rockets shared the ball more and achieved what was back then just their second 30-assist game of the season (the other two times this year, Smith had 8+ assists; maybe he’s the real MVP).

The Rockets are much better than so many people (including their own fans) give them credit for. As the data shows, they don’t need to be carried by a superstar to be competitive if they share the ball more; injuries have nothing to do with that.

Next: The Past, Present and Future of the MVP