Rockets playing great wide open 3 pointer defense

it's who you leave open and where you leave them open, when forced to choose, always choose the corner, and better shooter in that order of priority. Alex Len hit a 3 against us, he was the one we left open, yes he hit the shot, but when you're disciplined about leaving the Alex Len's and not the Kyle Korver's, the numbers will be in your favor.

Otherwise known as San Antonio 101

 

Yeah this is called leaving dudes open who can't make shots.

 

LOL at the comment about Hardens's beard shortening the distance by 1 ft.

 

We're the best team in the league at defending the 3. I don't think the stat is an accident.

 

Ariza's length bothering opponents.

 

Maybe with our tough D this is an indicator of the other team being tired. Wonder how the other top defensive teams compare.

 

Well, that thread start took a lot of work didn't it Carl? I guess someone has to pick the low hanging low value fruit.

 

Opponents always looking over their shoulder for Francisco Garcia.

 

What Seth is saying is we are only allowing 31.6% of our opponents 3-point shots to be shot without a defender within 6 feet of them. That means we are defending the 3-point line a lot closer than the average NBA team that allows 38% of their opponents 3-balls to be shot without a defender within 6 feet of the shooter. It means we are defending the 3-point line tight since we are also among the league leaders in 3-point shots allowed by our opponents.

 

Very interesting. Maybe we should hold off on all the praise for our defensive efficiency for a bit. Could just be an early season fluke against an easy schedule.

 

It's getting deep enough in the season where specific stats can no longer be considered flukes or skewed by an easy schedule.

 

Not all 3's are equal, there's 2 spots on the court where a 3 is a higher percentage shot than the rest

 

I don't hoop much anymore, but I was almost always thrown off by having no backboard behind my shot when shooting from the corner despite the shorter distance.

 

When you play grinding defense it affects all shots, even open ones.

If you have play hard every trip down the court on both ends of the court than yes, your shooting is going to suffer.

Look at Ariza and Harden - both of them are shooting worse. Even when open. A lot of that has to do that we are playing playoff level D in the regular season and that intensity is going to have an impact.

Basically you are never letting a player get into their comfort zone. And that results in more misses even on the wide open shots.

 

either they are letting those not good shooting it or luck

 

Somone (on SB Nation I think) wrote that we are forcing ballhandlers to the sidelines where we are automatically trapping/doubling them. That leads to hurried passes that can be picked off as well as hurried shots. Maybe late in the shotclock. How many 24-sec violations have we forced on opponents? It seems every game we have them.

So our defense is shifting the shape of the halfcourt offense of the opponent, making them uncomfortable even with the open shots they do take.

We are letting a lot of transition baskets go though. Coaches will eventually think up of another adjustment to address that. Also with Howard out, we have no rim protection. Not much anyway, unless we count Nick Johnson to sky high every time a guard tries to lay up

 

Forcing ball handlers to the side lines and base line is a NBA strategy that has been around for the last 30+ years.

I have not looked up the stats, but I believe the Rockets are 29th in the league in protecting the ball. Until they cure that the fast break points will remain high.

However the Rockets fast break and half court defense have been spectacular. Perhaps the Rockets will solve the turnover problem. But honestly, from looking at the stats, the Rockets are only 25% worse than the best in the league. So is it really a problem? I would not think so.