THE CONTEXT

The only other team over those 14 seasons to crack a point per possession was last season's LA Clippers, who scored 721 points on 719 isolations (1.003 per).

The Rockets have brought back iso-ball. Not only did they set a record for isolation efficiency, but they isolated on 14.5 percent of their possessions, the highest rate of the last five seasons, with the 2012-13 New York Knicks (15.6 percent) being the last team to top it.

Isolation rates were much higher in years prior to that. The 2005-06 Lakers isolated on 20 percent of their possessions and there were 11 other teams that season that isolated at a higher rate than last season's Rockets. In the each of the first nine seasons of Synergy play-type tracking (2004-05 through 2012-13), there were between 15-28 teams that isolated on at least 10 percent of their possessions.

Then, in 2013-14 (the season the Spurs won the championship by eviscerating the Miami Heat's aggressive defense with ball movement), there was a drop to just six teams that isolated on at least 10 percent of their possessions. The number dropped to four teams in 2014-15 and a low of just one team (the Lakers) in 2015-16.

How will Houston's loss in the 2018 West finals affect it in 2018-19?

But iso-ball may be making a comeback. And the Rockets are leading the way. In the 14 years of Synergy tracking, Houston was the third team to rank first in both the percentage of their possessions that were isolations and points per possession on isolation possessions, joining the 2006-07 Lakers and the '16-17 Cavs.

James Harden, of course, was the leader of the isolation parade. He averaged twice as many points per game on isolations (12.2) as any other player in the league, because he led in the league in both isolations per game (10.0) and in points per possession on isolations (1.22). And he led by wide margins in both cases.

Harden's 10.0 isolations per game were an increase from 6.8 in 2016-17. Chris Paul saw a similar jump, from 3.0 isolations per game in his final season with the LA Clippers to 5.1 (fourth in the league) last season.

Paul was similarly efficient both seasons, scoring 1.09 points per isolation (third in the league among players with at least two isolations per game) in '16-17 and 1.10 (second behind Harden) last season. Harden, though, went from scoring 0.97 to 1.22.

Harden not only shot much better than he did the season before, but he also got to the line more often, and saw a dramatic drop in turnover rate on isolations.

The frequency with which the Rockets isolated was partially dependent on the defense. They were more likely to isolate against switching defenses than they were against opponents that didn't switch often.