It’s never good when injuries happen, but sometimes underwhelming circumstances can lead to an unexpected positive outcome.
We might have had one of those moments in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals that saw the Golden State Warriors beat the Houston Rockets 110-106 at ORACLE Arena.
In the first quarter Dwight Howard hurt his left knee and played hobbled for a good chunk of his 26 minutes. It was a situation Houston was used to since their starting center missed 41 games in the regular season.
Howard getting banged up did open up some extra time for Clint Capela and the 21-year-old showed enough that warrants more looks as the series goes on.
He’s an effective pick and role finisher able to simulate what Howard typically does offensively, yet it’s what he can do defensively that Houston has to try to leverage to their advantage.
Capela ends up on Thompson after a switch. He pushes the All-Star shooting guard towards the baseline and stands strong as Klay tries to muscle him for a better-angled attempt. Capela uses his length to contest and forces Thompson into a miss.
And it wasn’t just Klay that Capela showed an ability to switch onto.
He had similar success with Curry. He has fleet enough lateral movement to keep the MVP out of the lane and force him into a low-percentage look.
How much Rockets head coach Kevin McHale will be able to utilize his rookie’s unique ability depends on a couple of factors.
- How will Capela do when Golden State adjusts and forces him to play more team defense versus defending the initial action?
- Can Houston rebound well enough defensively with Capela at center? During the playoffs when he plays (about 100 out of 600 minutes) their defensive rebound percentage drops by 4% and last night it dipped an astounding 18% in his 13 minutes.
The drop off in defensive rebounding in Game 1 was not manageable for Houston’s D. The two areas above have to be cleaned up to be able to unleash Capela’s perimeter defense. To have a big that can make life difficult for Curry and Thompson takes away some of the force they create in their offense. That means Houston doesn’t have to trap creating four on threes or sink back allowing clean off the dribble jumpers for Curry.
When Howard is at his best he’s still more comfortable sinking back. Capela was clearly better at defending the Warriors guard duo than Josh Smith and Terrance Jones. He got lower in his defensive position and had impressive balance helping contain Curry and Thompson better than any of Houston’s other bigs.
It looks like Houston found another solid contributor for the long-term and now we find it out if he’s ready to have a bigger impact on the present.
