Holes in the Rockets Defense Analysis

On Our General Defensive Strategy:

The Rockets are obviously amongst the best defensive teams in the league so its hard pressed to say there are any misgivings in JVG's defensive strategy. I think he is excellent in recognizing when to play zone and when to man up. 2-3 zone may be effective against guard penetration - probably our only weakness - but it leaves open shots from the perimeter. Its basic defensive principle, if you lay off your man to cut off driving lanes, youre giving him room to take a shot.

Perimeter vs. Interior Defense:

I think our post defense is solid. I dont think fans give Yao the credit he deserves for the defensive impact he has on the game. I think one of the main reason why Yao was prone to picking up cheap fouls was because JVG over-utilized him on defense. He is responsible for defending the strongest post players, providing help defense (for Hayes and on guard penetration), and trapping point-guards to obstuct their passing vision. Yao is a defensive stalwart.

Our perimeter defense can be suspect. I'm not so sure JVG is content with Rafer and TMac defending the perimeter. Both play tired defense and are often slow to rotate to the open shooter; routinely let players get by them and rely heavily on help defense to choke off penetration; let stronger players back them into the paint. What Rafer and Mac give up in foot speed and strength, they make up by playing passing lanes. Rafer and Mac are great at anticipating lazy passes and break up tons of plays during the course of the game. Rafer still has problems over-committing to the passing lanes which usually result in him leaving his assignments to slash to the basket.

IMO, JVG does a tremendous job in stopping the leaks mentioned above by plugging in Head, Snyder and Battier where needed.

Where Rafer fails, Luther flourishes. Those who back down TMac struggle to get past the forearms of Snyder. Any lapses in the perimeter are met by Battier and if youre lucky enough to set foot in the paint, Yao returns all basket bound packages back to the sender. At the very least, he will make you think very hard about changing your shot.

On Pick and Roll Defense:

I think we do a phenomenal job at defending the pick and roll. If you watch carefully, our team does all the little things that other teams tend to neglect. The trailor fights relentlessly over the pick and the player defending the setter will stick out his arm to slow down the ball handler. Battier or Hayes will rotate to cut off driving lanes. Battier is particularly fearless in taking the charge in this manner.

On Batman:

I dont even have to explain how important Shane has been for our defense. He motivates, initations, and executes.

On Our Real Problem:

I think our real problem is committing turnovers. Rafer and Luther make questionable decisions with the ball. When TMac handles the ball, he becomes a magnate for double teams which (a) force him into taking ill-advised perimeter shots (b) force him to dump the ball to the open man which probably means the offensively challenged Deke, Hayes and Rafer. Yao struggles to fight for position and usually catches the ball too far out of the post. This forces him to put the ball on the floor, inviting frequent opportunities to turn the ball over.

Unfortunately, theres not much JVG can do about these problems. When Rafer and Luther fumble plays, he lets TMac take the reigns. TMac gets worn down by double teams and is forced to defer shots. The Triangle and Pick and Roll are effective when used liberally, use it too often and it becomes predictable. The defense can front Yao to disrupt the Triangle and its not always in our best interest to bring Yao out of the paint with the high pick and roll when he has enough trouble establishing himself down low.

The moral of the story is that in order for this team to really be sucessful, Rafer and Luther Head have to play at a high level and need to limit their turn-overs. When our PGs figure out their jobs and figure out how to execute their jobs with high efficiency, it lets all our other players concentrate on their jobs. Hopefully we'll reach a point where our PGs can stop relying on others to cover for them offensively or defensively.

 

Too bad some of our fellow posters don't have the ability and enough basketball knowledge to see that and so they keep whinning that Yao is not doing enough defensively (hell these people might not even be basketball fans before Yao was drafted to the Houston Rockets). When I saw a few idiots run their mouths to bash Yao in the game thread because of his two rebounds stats line tonight, the question came to my mind immediately is: did they even watch the game or they only read the box score on espn.com?

 

Very nice and objective analysis Tmaniac. Just what we need more of here

 

For a game between rocket vs suns, , who makes more contribution to the team for a winning, Yao or Stoudemire?

in my opining, if you are YOF, you would say it is Yao. but on the other side, if you are a fan of SUNS, you possibly would say it is Stoudemire. is it ture?

 

Thats a tough question and Im not sure that you can boil it down to a simple Yao vs. Stoudemire scenario.

PHX is just lethal on offense. JVG may have a defensive strategy thats good enough to beat PHX, but all those strategies wont help you if your players are mentally broken and lured into a run-and-gun pace that favors the Suns.

Every player on the PHX squad save Kurt Thomas has the athletic ability to beat you off the dribble. PHX has more athletes on their squad than any single team in the NBA and more athletes than the entire MLB.

So youre saying, "Ok... so theyre athletes. Why not just lay off them a bit so they cant beat you off the dribble?"

Unfortunately, playing zone won't work because each player on the PHX squad also has dead-eye accuracy from three point range. The combination of athleticism, mongoose-like quickness, and dead-eye shooting will make any defender trip all over themselves trying to figure out who and where to defend.

Whenever Gumby played zone, the team got torched. PHX plays its best perimeter game against Houston (.500 3pt) and Dallas (.534 3pt). I couldnt tell you why Dallas gives up so many shots, but I can tell you that JVG would rather PHX take open threes than have them take it inside on Yao... which could potentially lead to two and one plus a foul on Yao Ming. A 2-3 zone is a good way to shield your post player from foul-prone situations. This obviously has not worked given that PHX is draining an amazing 50% of their long range shots.

If you play man, your players have to play intense defense in order to stay with the quicker, sharp-shooting PHX players. Everytime I see us playing PHX, I see our players squat much lower than against other teams... they get in serious defensive position which will tire out players faster than anything else in the game. This is also a problem given that our teams poorer-than-average athleticism, forcing our defenders to work extra hard. Come time for an offensive play, our players are so tired they just handing the ball to PHX for a fast break.

The Strategy:

Use a 1-3-1 trapping zone in the first half of the game.

1
3-4-2
5

1- Rafer
2- Head/Snyder
3- McGrady
4- Battier
5- Yao

Battier is the trapping 4 who comes out early and often to disrupt Nash's vision. TMac and Luther Head need to do a good job of guarding the corners where Marion and Bell are normally set to take jumpers. Battier and Rafer need to do their best to stick with Nash through screens, they also need to clog up passing and driving lanes. If Nash manages to get the ball to someone else, Shane is the free-lance defender that stays with the ball while Rafer stays on Nash to make sure the ball doesnt end up back in Nash's hands.

Advantages: Prevents Yao from getting into foul trouble early in the game. Tires out Nash early in the game by forcing him to work harder to get open or to get the ball to the open man. The 1-3-1 zone really clogs things up midrange and allows for better perimeter coverage than a 2-3 zone.

Disadvantages: Poor rebounding. Yao has to fight two players to get a rebound and will be put in situations where he may reach over the back of players in better position to wipe up boards. Still, PHX is hardly a great rebounding team so we may be able to afford some slack on the boards early in the game.

use 1-3-1 trapping zone in the second half of the game.

1- Tracy McGrady
2- Luther Head/Snyder
3- Shane Battier
4- Yao Ming
5- Chuck Hayes

D'Antoni will probably start to use the Pick and Roll heavily in the second half to help create space for Nash. Yao should anticipate the pick and help trap Nash. The tandem of McGrady and Yao should make it even harder on Nash to control the ball and should force some turnovers. Yao is able to afford fouls in the second half because he's shielded in the first half. If Nash manages to dump the ball in the post to an open Amare or Kurt Thomas/Diaw, Yao must rotate in to help Chuck while Mac covers Nash with his length.

Advantages: Further frustrates a tired Nash by putting a fresh Mac and Yao on him to obstruct vision and to disrupt his driving. Yao and Mac get a head start in transition so they can set up for offense, which would help given the slower lineup. Chuck, who is the poorest offensive option, is last to get back rather than Yao, who is one of our best offensive options and who already has problems getting up and down the court.

Disadvantages: Puts Yao at serious foul risk but should not be a problem given that Yao is shielded in the first half.

Re-Visiting Your Question:

I couldnt say who would contribute more to winning between Yao and Stoudemire. But I can tell you that the core of any offensive or defensive strategy, whether for the Rockets or for the Suns, will mostly involve Yao and Nash.

 

I saw Billy Tubbs try to run the 1-3-1 a lot at Lamar. It's a good defense to create turnovers on teams that try to pass penetrate, but it has a lot of holes. Unless you have a stud defensive PG, good dribble penetration will eat a 1-3-1 alive.

 

Unless you have a stud free-lance defender that will help on the dribble-drive/pick-and-roll in the first half - Battier.

Unless you have your stud defensive PG in TMac in the second half.

Our team also does alot of little things to make it hard for the ball handler. We position ballhandlers out of the lane and out towards baseline. On the PnR, we stick out our arms to slow down the ballhandler just enough to let the trailer fight under/over picks. etc...

I think this could work out for us nicely.

 

Against Phoenix, JVG better be taking note of what Popovich and the Spurs did to the Suns. Let them have the one player conetested 15-18 foot twos. Vigourously defend the three and clog the lane.

 

Sometimes it amazes me how people claim to be BB experts and fans of the Rockets ... yet they seem to miss all of the stretches when the Rockets did actually play a zone. Not often, granted, but they weren't very good when they tried. JVG had to call off our zone fairly quickly f you had paid attention.
What more, our defense is at the top at most every category playing this way. Is it not good enough for you experts?

 

Most likely they did watch the game but not the same way as you did: They were just staring at the ball all night long and moving their heads to wherever the ball went. They never learned to pay attention to other 9 people on the court.

 

We are the number 1 team in defending points in the paint BY FAR.

 

Couldn't agree more. (and man, do I wish we had a guard like Chris Paul!) Maybe it was an hallucination, a flashback, if you will, but without looking at my DVR again, I remember Paul doing a lot less driving to the basket in the second half. He'd start to, see Yao, and then suddenly think pass. Yes, we'd all like to see Yao hammer someone, in a good-natured way, on occasion (lol!), but people were getting bruises in amongst the trees from the Rockets. Hell, even if Yao doesn't give a hard foul, running into him going to the basket (or when he sets a pick) is like running into a Sequoia. The 300 foot tree, not the truck. And Howard, for one, isn't adverse to giving a hard foul at all. Battier can dish it out sometimes, as well. Where we rank defensively is no accident. We ain't perfect, but we drive other teams nuts.

 

people who advocate zone in the NBA to the point of making a post about it merely reveal themselves as hs/college bball fans who really have no idea how powerful an man d is.

man d is the best defense ... that is why all NBA coaches use it as their primary defenise if not their exclusive defense.

zone is stupid.

 

We can all discuss JVG's offense, but does anyone seriuosly think there's a possibility on defense that JVG hasn't thought of?

I mean, this board is all about discussing. But best defensive team in the league with no dominant shotblocker in the starting line-up is EXCELLENT. Yao's career-high is 2.

I think the defense works great. You have to give something up, and we give up the 3 pointer. There will be teams that happend to be well equipped to pick us apart, but generally speaking, if you're going to give up a shot, it's best to give the most difficult one to make away. Even in that regard, we are the 5th best team at defending the 3pter.

With Yao in the line-up will and can take advantage of the PnR. Personally, I don't think the zone will help. It's ok in pinches, but all it takes is a substitution to pick it apart and go on a nice little run before adjustments are made again.

Then again, I personally think this team is a backup PG away from being the best team in the league.

 

That's cause Team USA sucked at swinging the ball around the zone and playing the drive and kick game.

You know the perfect point guard for that team? Steve Nash. Plug Phoenix's system into Team USA, and it'll be gold after gold I'm sure.

But that's offtopic. On the subject of the Rockets, I do think our defense is probably a mix of the two. I like to term it as a fluid defense, because the basis of it is a no-frills man-to-man d, but when opposing guards or forwards start to penetrate, then it becomes sort of a collapsing zone at times.

 

Phoenix sandwiched Yao last time rendering him ineffective. He needs to come out high and draw his defenders out to let T-Mac/Alston/Head drive to the hole.

 

i don't understand this "only option" argument.

So I guess you don't think playing an effective man d "requires a smart team that knows one another's habits and tendencies."

imo, man is the best defense, and the hardest defense to play, and the one requiring the most smarts and discipline.