The Rockets will have a top 10 defense this season

Teams with a top 10 offense and top 10 defense right now:

• Philadelphia
• Boston
• Denver
• YOUR HOUSTON ROCKETS

 

Admittedly we're facing injured teams, but still... y'all have me re-thinking. I originally thought you guys were out of your minds thinking we'd have a top 10 defense. I thought there'd be improvement if for no other reason than we added Udoka, 2 good defenders to the starting lineup, the kids are getting older, and we weren't going to tank. Duh, of course we'll play better. But never thought I'd see the defense I've seen so far. This is impressive, but let's see how the trend continues since it's still early. With the way they've been playing D, it's probably selling the team short to say they're a top-10 defense.

 

3 contenders and the Sixers.

 

As of today (before tonight's NBA games). We are

• #9 in DEFRTG <-
• #10 in OFFRTG <-
• #5 in NETRTG <-

For the NETRTG, #1-#4 (BOS, PHI, DEN, MIN) are in a tier of their own, whereas #5 thru 11 are bunched together by narrower margin.

We are 30th in PACE. I'm strangely ok with this. We're a turtle type of team.

 

The offenses we've faced have been really bad, so I don't think we are a top 10 defense right now. Also veteran teams don't give 100% at the beginning of the season while we are giving 110%.

More likely in the first half we're a top 15 defense and by the second half we creep into the top 10.

 

FIFY

 

Conveniently Bleacher Report just released an interesting article that analyses PACE and offense/defensive rating.

Pace and offensive efficiency do not have correlation, but pace and defensive efficiency absolutely does (slower pace, better defense). Some teams were exceptions to this rule (fast pace and good defense) but of these teams a number of them ended up winning championships.

All in all, it seems the Rockets are actively slowing the game down for opponents, basically cutting off fast break points and reducing the number of quality looks that they have (forcing them to use up more time per possession).

 

Nice article. Thx for that.

Turnovers also contribute to pace.
So do offensive rebounds.

Overall, Pace has waaay too many variables to make conclusions wrt what style of offense a team has. Not to say you are, but rather I’m referring to other convos around the stat.

Pace isn’t a stat that measures how fast a team puts up their first shot in a possession, but ppl tend to view it that way.

 

Pace will probably pick up drastically once we get Eason and Amen back. Eason plays like a headless chicken on transition and Amen just plays quick naturally.

 

Top 10 Offense?

 

Pleasantly surprised.

DD

 

The Rockets began the season as one of the top defensive teams. But over the past few weeks, Houston has fallen near the bottom of the league.

They have notched the fourth-worst defense with a defensive net rating of 122.3 over the previous six games. The Rockets have also allowed their opponents to score an average of 126.2 points.

https://www.si.com/nba/rockets/news...rockets-second-half-collapse-vs-trail-blazers

Things can sure change in a hurry.

 

Puke.

 

atp, this seems to be closer to the real team, and their elite defense was fake…a mirage

I wish my prediction was way off