The Rockets Epic Defense! For Real or Fools Gold?

I think it's real and here is why. Think long and hard about this. When is the last time you saw this level of defense from a Rockets team? Yes it was preseason, but wow, what an eye opener. Watching them play lockdown defense like that was an epiphany similar to how I felt last year when they started destroying teams offensively. Last year you could see them taking team's souls on offense with their pace. Now they have a lineup to go to that has the potential to do the same thing on the other end of the floor. I honestly don't remember the last time I saw the Rockets actually dominate a team defensively and they did it two games in a row. They absolutely smothered them. With Beverley pressuring the ball and Parsons and Harden committing to running people off the 3 point line and funneling them into the teeth of the defense, I don't see how this type of defense can't be real. It would be unrealistic to think they will hold teams under 20% shooting (Memphis is bad right now), but they haven't played defense like this since JVG and Tom Thibodeau left. There is nothing lucky or fluky about this. You have two of the best rim protectors in the whole NBA guarding your basket, competent wing defenders, and dare I say one of the best players in the NBA at on ball pressure.

Here is the one caveat. You pull Howard out of the paint with a stretch 4. This alone isn't the biggest problem. It is when you do this in addition to involving Asik in a high pick and roll. Now you have essentially taken both big guys away from the basket, neutralizing our defensive advantage and completely opening up the lanes to the basket. The Rockets will need to figure out a way to combat that type of game planning. Fortunately, most teams don't have legit stretch power forwards anyways and if they try to answer by going small on us, that plays right into our hands with a Lin, Beverley, Harden, Parsons, Howard lineup or some variation thereof. Only a few teams like GS can throw out a small ball lineup that would challenge Houston's.

As assembled, this team can go big or small and I love it. We can slug it out or shoot it out. Lets all hope they can stay healthy and stay focused.

 

Man it is preseason, don't trust nothing collectively in preseason, especially given the variant playing time and the potential for cuts or injuries.

 

Pre season or not it is a very good thing to see the team playing well on the defense side of the ball. The team can only get better as this season goes along. Count me in for Goldish, still need to see how it all comes together once the real games get going.

 

The Rockets were seventh in overall defense last season when Asik was on the court. But I agree. The most valuable aspect of Howard/Asik is the 48 minutes of paint/rim protection they provide. I actually could see the Rockets achieving a top 5 overall ranking in both offense and defense this season. And that is ship territory.

 

We've been amazing defensively, it's almost unfair to have both Howard and Asik in at the same time.

The only place I see us struggling with is pick and roll defense.

 

teams will figure out to just attack our weak link which is James Hairy Hardon

we would need to double team and then it will open the floor for our opponents

 

not funny and also harden is our best player. Need to put down the crack pipe and go support the fakers. Your opinion sucks.

 

Just pathetic. I've told myself I'd stop responding to your troll posts but they just get better and better every time.

 

If Parsons is your 4th best defender I'd say you're in excellent shape, especially if his conditioning has improved and he can give more energy this season.

I'd say that if Parsons is above average defensively and Harden at least shows some improvement, we will be in the top 3 or 4 defensive teams in the NBA.

 

Harden is our best offensive player. But his defense is the worst amongst Dwight, Asik, Chandler and Pat

 

I wish we had a 3rd tower off the bench to go with Dwight and Asik. We saw glimpses of that problem rear it's ugly head when Gasol and Randolph were posting up and drawing fouls on our twin towers .... then there was a huge dropoff in Defense when McHale went smaller with Casspi, D-Mo, and Greg Smith. We need a plan C when our twin towers get into foul trouble or injured.
Here's hoping that Morey planning to sign Okafor rumors are true.

 

But even then his defense hasn't been terrible in preseason. He's doing much less ball watching and at least trying to run people off the 3 point line. I guess you can "attack" him but ultimately what does that even mean? Drive on him? Into the lane? Mid-range jumpers? Okay. I'll take those. 3 pointers? Do they really want to get into a shooting contest with us?

 

it looked pretty real

 

So far the Rockets interior defense with Howard and Asik is looking real good. But I think they need to work on their perimeter defense and defending the three ball. But most importantly, I didn't like the Rocket's pick and roll defense. Overall, our defense improved only on the interior defense from what I saw.

 

With Howard and Asik, the defense will always be there. Look at the years with the fuhrer, a big man that didn't have the fastest feet and we were ranked high on defense every season. Once yao went down and lost a true big man's presence our defense plummeted to like 50th in a 30 team league. A center that can clog and disrupt lane makes everything easier, now having two...Ouch.

However, you have to take some truck loads of salt when it comes to preseason. In pre season, last season, harden looked like he was going to average 8 points a game during the regular season.

 

the option to have 9-10 guys play quality minutes is also a big deal to keep legs fresh for our run n gun style while playing with high energy on the defensive end

 

Thisssssss.

 

Casspi to defend the stretch 4 will work pretty fine as well. I think if we go with a defensive starting line-up (with the explosive scoring of Harden, Howard and Parsons) and then we turn Lin's attacking style loose with the bench unit, that'll be turning the heads of opponents everywhere.

After we've beaten them up, now they have to run.

 

The twin tower lineup works like the Great Wall against teams that can't shoot from the perimeter, like Memphis. It will be less effective against the Warriors. Still, if you can make your opponent one-dimensional, you are already getting the upper hand to handily win the game.