Although I think the Rockets' D is pretty solid, I don't think that they are the best in the NBA. The Rockets are #1 in the league in opponents' FG% at 39.3%. The are #1 in the league in points allowed at 83.3 ppg. These numbers look good but do not tell the whole story. The Rockets have solid interior defense, and they don't give up too many easy layups. But their defense doesn't effectively extend out to the perimeter. Their opponents connect on 35.3% their 3-pointers - which puts them at #19 in the NBA. They don't create too many turnovers on defense. They only force 12.5 Turnovers per game - which ranks them at #27. They only have 6.5 steals pg which puts them #29 (dead LAST) in the NBA. San Antonio, Indiana, and Detroit have better numbers across the board than the Rockets. I think the Rockets have one of top 5 defenses in the league, but they are not #1. I think San Antonio has the best overall defense in the NBA. Does anyone agree or disagree? These stats were taken from espn.com.
yea it does seem that while the paint is clogged up, there seems to be a lot of perimeter shots against the rockets.
Well, since all that really matters is whether or not you keep the other team from scoring, I'd say yes, they're right there in the top 2 or 3, and I say that conservatively. Forcing turnovers doesn't have to be how you put together an effective D. Look at players (such as rookies that are taking more risks) that rank high in steals/game but aren't really shutting down players overall. What I'd like to see as a stat is points/possession for a game. As in, you can have a great looking opponent's scoring average, but have that be a byproduct of a slowdown game (mid 90s Cavs or late 90s Heat as prime examples). Evan
It's hard to say, as everyone knows what the stats say, but last night was a prime example of how NOT to play D... Easy bucket after easy bucket, running around chasing guys, not stoping the Kings from Scoring...Pathetic... Anyways, I think they are much improved from last year on D, but their O has suffered because of it...
Does anyone know where the Rockets rank in offensive rebounding? I noticed after MacBeth pointed it out, that the Rockets a lot of times don't even try for offensive rebounds. They just immediately sprint back on defense.
It's not we have the best D. It's just JVG's game style. Slow down the game, run up the clock. This leads to low opp socre, as well as rox's score. We are 27th in points scored per game while 2rd in points allowed.
For some cases, ROX' defense makes no sense. ROX' offense also sucks. If we check CATO's stats, we may understand that ROX' defense cannot compensate for their offense deficits. I really hope that JVG could forget about his defense and pay attention into ROX' offense. ROX's players even cannot hit the free throws right now. For many cases, CATO as PF is terrible at both offense and defense ends. SF3 even cannot hit any outside jumper shots......
I guess that for defensive reasons, against a good fastbreak team, there is no time for handing around the board to get offensive rebounds, you have to run back as quick as possible to prevent the other team from getting a easy two.
Thats weird, because the Rockets had 15 offensive boards to Sacs 7...yet Sacramento had like 25 fastbreak points to our 6-8pts.
Houston ranks 5th in total rebounds per game. Houston ranks 2nd in rebounds given up. Houston ranks 23rd in offensive rebounds (oddly enough, about 3.5 rebs behind the 1st place team) Houston ransk 3rd in defensive rebounds.
Houston's a great halfcourt defensive team. Their transition defense is poor however. That's where they give up all their easy buckets typically.
No Houston is not the best defence. Either is Indiana or San Antonio. Imma suprize you with this one though. It's Memphis, with there traping and hard play they do somthing these other teams don't do. They don't make you make shots they make you not take them
But it would be better if you can both keep the other team from scoring AND be able to create easy scores for your team. This is what creating turnovers will do - especially steals. A prime example is San Antonio. They allow 39.9% FG against (#2) and create 14.6 TO a game (#14). That's one reason why they're able to score 90 points a game vs 87 for the rockets even when the 2 teams have similar offensive FG%. SA shoots 43.3% and the Rockets at 43.5%. A great defense should generate easy scoring opportunities through steals. I'm not saying that the Rockets aren't a good defense...they would just improve a whole lot more if they can force a few more turnovers. I completely agree with this! The opp's scoring avg has much to do with the team's style of play. Can anyone get stats for opponent's points/possession? It would be interesting to see.
Opponents points per possession is called "defensive efficiency". The Rockets rank second behind only the Spurs in giving up the fewest point per each possession by an opponent. After Houston and San Antonio, the next 4 teams in order are the Pacers (Rick Carlisle), Nets, Pistons (Larry Brown) and Raptors (Kevin O'Neal, Carlisle's assistant last year at Detroit). The #7 through #9 are TWolves, Lakers and Nuggets. From the bottom (29th) up are Orlando and Portland with Dallas and the Clippers tied for 27th.
Not exactly true. The opposite of defensive efficiency is offensive efficiency. IOW, how many points does your offense score for every possession it has. If your offensive efficiency is higher than your defensive efficiency, the greater your chance of winning. The top 10 teams in OE to DE margin: SACRAMENTO...... 7.4 SAN ANTONIO...... 6.8 MINNESOTA......... 5.4 INDIANA.............. 5.1 HOUSTON........... 4.5 LA LAKERS........... 4.3 DETROIT............. 4.3 DALLAS............... 3.8 DENVER............... 2.4 MILWAUKEE.......... 2.1 7 of 10 are WC and everyone is a playoff team.
The Rockets shoot 43.5% - which is ranked 16th. But they only score 87.2 ppg - #27 in the league. A big reason for this is the Turnovers. They give up 15.6 TO's/game and only force 12.5 TO's/game. The difference of -3.1 ranks them next to last in the league - only Atlanta is worse. They'll be in good shape as long as they hold onto the ball.
Chaser - Although there will be those that scoff at stats in general or efficiencies in particular, efficiencies are very important to people who put their money where there mouth is - gamblers. These particular "offensive efficiency" and "defensive efficiency" stats came from a gambling website which for now shall remain anonymous. But you can find your own with a decent search. The difference in efficiency margin between the Rockets and the league leadings Kings is as insignificant as Steve Francis shooting fractionally better than his current 28% from the arc, Yao going aggressively to the basket for an "and 1" or (like you mentioned) the team having 3 fewer TO's/game (43.5% * 3 possessions * 2 points = + 2.61 ppg). They are that close!
