Since the departure of Aaron Brooks and defensive specialist Shane Battier, the Rockets have allowed only 97.1 points per game, which would be good for 13th in the NBA (for the season the Rockets gave up 104 points and were 24th). Opponent shooting percentages is .445, which would tie the Indiana Pacers for 6th. I realize that it has been only 6 games and only half of our opponents were playoff teams (Indiana, Portland, New Orleans) but is this a positive sign from our Rockets squad? Absolutely, lets hope they keep this up against the high scoring Phoenix Suns tomorrow night. Also keep in mind that several of these games were blowouts so the Rockets may have allowed several more points than they would have in garbage time. Take it FWIW...
Playing Lee more minutes certainly helps our D. What's confusing is how we are playing better D without Battier. I think the more uptempo we play, the more we hide our defensive weaknesses. And Bud helps us play uptempo. Said another way, the faster the pace, the better we play D relative to our opponents. And Battier's style of play slows down the game.
OP said it in the first sentence - "Since the departure of Aaron Brooks" It's simple. You want to win. You gotta stop ball.
Battier was good on the D side but his inconsistent O made the team play mainly 3 on 5 with Hayes being out there. Budinger O is what has helped the starting unit and his D has improved. Brooks was killing the second unit with his uninspired play and his lack of D, it seems he was a ball stopper. Dragic hustles on D and his O is not bad. This plus Lee getting more pt is what I see tha has helped out the D.
entire team playing with more heart, chemistry, morale is what has improved the D. No more demoralizing plays caused by Brooks.
Good team D definitely, but they really haven't been tested yet by a offensively potent team. Especially, no team has tried exploiting Budinger's one-on-one defense by running isolation plays against him. Also, we have yet to go up against a team with a premier small forward, except for an exhausted Granger coming off four games in five days. That said, Budinger has been playing solid defense since the trade. He's really stepped up to the challenge so far.
Aaron Brooks' pouting was having a severely detrimental effect on the team on both sides of the ball when he was in the game.
I've been saying it, and all the stats back it up. Budinger isn't a terrible defender, but he certainly isn't a stopper either. His lateral quickness gets exposed sometimes in man defense, but everything else, (rotations, closeouts, effort) is solid. He's an average to slightly below average defensive player. So we lost battier, but we also got rid of Brooks, so they kinda cancel each other out defensively. Kevin Martin and Jordan Hill are a lot worse defensive players than bud. Martins defense, or lack thereof, is sickening sometimes. He gives zero effort closing out or fighting through screens. Hill is just stupid, it's god's fault really.
No. The best defense is playing the Pacers and Kings every night. :grin: But seriously, I agree. the D has really stepped it up. Hopefully we can keep it up against stiffer competition.
I'm not a big fan of opposing PPG as a defensive measure as it doesn't factor in pace of the game. Would someone mind posting the points per possessions stats since the trade deadline and compare it with the same stat from before the deadline? The defense has looked good, but it seems like our offense has been white hot lately.
Yeah, their team defense just somehow looks more sharp. They must be trying different things. The best defensive game of the season was probably the Portland game. After Aldridge destroyed us last time, we decided to double (and even triple) team him. When he'd pass it out our rotation was just flawless...they still weren't able to get a completely open look. Plus we held Aldridge to 14 points in 41 minutes.
You really screwed up. There were like ten of the first 11 posts in a row that blasted Brooks. Are you trying to cleverly disguise the 2,178th Brooks Bash thread? OP, Indiana is a playoff team? Actually agree with those who say the sample size is kind of small. But I'm hopeful. I think more regular rotations, with players on the wings knowing more what to expect in terms of minutes, helps a great deal. It's pretty huge, and that's a very positive thing the trades did for us.
http://www.82games.com/1011/10HOU1.HTM Rockets gave up 109 pts per 100 possession with him off the court and 117 with him on.
