Indazone
11-21-2010, 02:23 PM
What is wrong with the Rockets?
With the slow start in Houston having nothing to do with the economy, I felt I needed to figure out what was wrong with the highly anticipated Houston Rockets. Losing their first 5 games with curing their winning woes over Minnesota recently, there was something not right with this team.
The one thing that Rockets have consistently been able to do is perform on the defensive end with players like Shane Battier and Chuck Hayes, this should come easy to them. This season the Rockets are the second worst defensive team in terms of opponents scoring (112 per game), which isn’t a big surprise when they played offensive power houses of the Lakers, Warriors, and Nuggets, but it is surprising they have not been able to get stops or slow the pace of the game down, something Rick Adelman teams have always been able to do.
Running down the rest of the defensive categories you have the Rockets ranked 4th in Defensive rebounding (46.33 per game), 17th in blocks (4.83), and 26th in steals (6.17). These are ranked 11th in opponent’s field goal percentage (44.4%) and 24th in opponent’s 3pt percentage (38.3%), which tells me they are not closing in on their rotations fast enough. Houston is ranked second to last in forcing turnovers, with 12.33 a game, which is not enough to stop the opponents on a nightly basis. Ranking 9th in the league in fouls per game at 23.33 is a sign of slow rotations, lack of positioning, and just getting beat to the basket. The Rockets need to control the pace of a game better to pull out wins, as they try to work Yao back into the line up.
What is even more concerning for the Rockets is that their PPG differential is only -.67, meaning every game is decided by one point theoretically, which they lost a couple of close ones down the stretch to start the season. They are scoring more than they ever have in recent memory, putting up 112 points per game, but this is not the style the Rockets are accustomed to.
The Rockets slow start can’t be pinpointed to any individuals as each player is putting up stats like they usually do, however, as a team the defense is not there. I do not expect the Rockets to continue this pace, considering they had to play their first couple of games for opening nights on the west coast and open at home verses very worthy opponents. I do expect them to rotate better on defense, force more turnovers, and get to the shooters on the perimeter faster, which will translate into wins and bringing the Rockets back to their style of basketball, although losing Aaron Brooks for a month might slow this down.
Just play zone since the Rockets do not seem to be able to rotate worth a damn!
With the slow start in Houston having nothing to do with the economy, I felt I needed to figure out what was wrong with the highly anticipated Houston Rockets. Losing their first 5 games with curing their winning woes over Minnesota recently, there was something not right with this team.
The one thing that Rockets have consistently been able to do is perform on the defensive end with players like Shane Battier and Chuck Hayes, this should come easy to them. This season the Rockets are the second worst defensive team in terms of opponents scoring (112 per game), which isn’t a big surprise when they played offensive power houses of the Lakers, Warriors, and Nuggets, but it is surprising they have not been able to get stops or slow the pace of the game down, something Rick Adelman teams have always been able to do.
Running down the rest of the defensive categories you have the Rockets ranked 4th in Defensive rebounding (46.33 per game), 17th in blocks (4.83), and 26th in steals (6.17). These are ranked 11th in opponent’s field goal percentage (44.4%) and 24th in opponent’s 3pt percentage (38.3%), which tells me they are not closing in on their rotations fast enough. Houston is ranked second to last in forcing turnovers, with 12.33 a game, which is not enough to stop the opponents on a nightly basis. Ranking 9th in the league in fouls per game at 23.33 is a sign of slow rotations, lack of positioning, and just getting beat to the basket. The Rockets need to control the pace of a game better to pull out wins, as they try to work Yao back into the line up.
What is even more concerning for the Rockets is that their PPG differential is only -.67, meaning every game is decided by one point theoretically, which they lost a couple of close ones down the stretch to start the season. They are scoring more than they ever have in recent memory, putting up 112 points per game, but this is not the style the Rockets are accustomed to.
The Rockets slow start can’t be pinpointed to any individuals as each player is putting up stats like they usually do, however, as a team the defense is not there. I do not expect the Rockets to continue this pace, considering they had to play their first couple of games for opening nights on the west coast and open at home verses very worthy opponents. I do expect them to rotate better on defense, force more turnovers, and get to the shooters on the perimeter faster, which will translate into wins and bringing the Rockets back to their style of basketball, although losing Aaron Brooks for a month might slow this down.
Just play zone since the Rockets do not seem to be able to rotate worth a damn!