The Houston Rockets have completely revolutionized how to play basketball. Led by James Harden, and with a roster constructed by a mad scientist, they developed a severe allergy to the mid-range jumper with the overwhelming majority of their shots coming right at the rim or from way downtown. And it worked!
They played outstanding hoops, even setting a franchise record with 65 wins in the 2017-18 season, lapping the rest of the Association with their three-point shooting, and cruising through the first two rounds of the postseason. It even had them up 3-2 in the Western Conference Finals and on the brink of their first NBA Finals appearance in 23 years.
But then, they went cold. Like, really cold. Really, really, really, cold. And in a winner-wins-the-West Game 7. What, exactly, the Rockets did to anger the basketball gods that badly will likely remain a mystery until the sun burns out.