The 2017-18 season remains arguably the biggest “what if?” in Houston Rockets history. They finished 65-17 in the regular season, by far the best record in the NBA that season and in franchise history. But they did not win the title after falling to eventual champion Golden State in a dramatic seven-game series in the Western Conference finals.
The Rockets were one game from advancing to the NBA Finals. The reason they did not? Take your pick. For starters, those Steph Curry and Kevin Durant-led Warriors were one of the most talented teams in NBA history, and they went on to win a third championship in four years.
There was the ill-timed Chris Paul hamstring injury in the final seconds of Game 5, ending his series. There was the historic outlier of an 0-for-27 cold shooting stretch from 3-point range in a competitive Game 7. And who can forget the poor officiating in Game 7, which graded out terribly.
While the Rockets were not technically one victory from a championship — they would still have had to win the 2018 NBA Finals versus Cleveland, even had they won that Game 7 against the Warriors at home — the reality is the 2017-18 Rockets were far better than those Cavaliers (50-32), on paper. Even if Paul had not been able to play, James Harden’s MVP presence would still have made Houston a substantial favorite.
Now, four years later in an appearance on JJ Redick’s “The Old Man & The Three” podcast, former head coach Mike D’Antoni is calling it a significant regret. Moreover, had Houston won the 2018 title, D’Antoni believes that he, Paul, and Harden would still be with the Rockets today.
We could see in their eyes, we had them. We had them on the ropes. Now, whether we’d have won or not, nobody knows that. I’m not stupid enough to think, ‘Yeah, okay, we would have.’ Like the suspensions [Amar’e Stoudemire and Boris Diaw] in Phoenix, I don’t know. They’re a great team, they might have found a way, too.
But that’s a big regret, because then, we’d still be in Houston. I’d have Chris and James, and we’d still be in Houston, beating up on people. That’s just the way it goes.
Coach D'Antoni was on the @OldManAndThree podcast. He discussed the 2018 WCF, including the #Rockets having the Warriors "on the ropes".
D'Antoni also said: "That's a big regret because we'd still be in Houston, I'd [still] have Chris and James…beating up on people." pic.twitter.com/geTtLBgnQr
— Alykhan Bijani (@Rockets_Insider) April 14, 2022
Leading into the question, Tommy Alter — Redick’s co-host for the podcast — referenced an unreleased interview for the same podcast with Kevin Durant. “He was talking about the series against you guys, before Chris got hurt, and he was saying that with the switching and everything like that… I’m paraphrasing, but he basically was like, ‘They had us.’ Which was kind of surprising to us, to hear him say that.”
Indeed, history almost certainly plays out differently, had that Houston team won it all. With a legacy defining championship run, all three would likely still be with the franchise. Instead, Harden and Paul are All-Star guards for Philadelphia and Phoenix, respectively; D’Antoni is still searching for his next head coaching gig after leaving Houston; and the Rockets are in the early stages of a franchise rebuild.
It’s a classic “what could have been” story. Interestingly enough, recent rumors have suggested that the D’Antoni-Harden duo might resurface in Philadelphia with former Rockets general manager (and current 76ers president of basketball operations) Daryl Morey, should the Doc Rivers-led version fall short of a title in the 2022 playoffs.
But that won’t be much consolation in Houston, where the Rockets are still searching for their first championship since 1995. That drought almost ended in 2018, and it still haunts everyone involved to this day.
