Rockets One of the Best Defensive Teams in the NBA

At the start of the 4th quarter the 76ers had 62 points. Guess how many points they had when the starters for the Rockets were taken out at 3:25 to play???

Come on......

give up yet.......

68

The Rockets (partly 76ers doing) starters held them to FOUR points scored in almost nine minutes of 4th quarter play.

 

Make that six points.

Damn I need some sleep...........Lets see,

ummm........62 minus 68 auh....makes four.......no that doesn't sound right. YOUR GETTING SLEEPY......Brian says forget about it and hit the button that says Submit Reply.......

No edit option.

 

The defense has been a pleasant surprise this season. I wonder how much of it is due to the zone and how much is due to individual improvement by Francis, Mobley, KT, etc. Adding in Yao Ming hasn't seemed to hurt too much.

 

Good question. I hope it's a combination of both, with most of our defensive success coming from individual improvement and the presence of Yao, rather than just the zone. If the use of the zone gets most of the credit, I hope that the zone is here to stay, and the NBA doesn't decide again to get rid of it.

 

it is not just Yao. We are equally effective with Cato in there. We have won games from our defense on both man and zone, with Yao and without. But agree, Yao is much more aggressive recently and he is looking more comfortable knowing where to be on defense.

Raven Lunatic. The pointing out assignments is a responsibility of the entire front line in a 2-3 matchup zone. The guys behind the play are supposed to call out when to leave you man, because they have picked him up. For instance, you can see Kenny pointing out for Yao, too.

It is similar to any zone in any sport. The whole team must talk. And it is the *job* of the guys in the back call out the assignments. That said, there are some players who are not good at it.

 

Aha. I guess I just didn't realize because I never noticed anyone else doing it. Perhaps it is because I feel like my eyes are glued on 7'6 Yao Ming at all times whenever he is on the floor.

 

Since Jeff started this thread our ranking is even higher in most of those categories. I take it that it is not a surprise to anyone on this board that we are so good defensively. Sure if you are one of those who view last year as a total waste then you may be surprised. In reviewing the tapes from last year there were periods(few) when you saw what this team is capable of. That coupled with the knowledge that Rudy has had defensive teams before made you feel reasonably confident that he could do it again. And I promise it will get better. The beauty of it is that the defense is starting to have a positive effect on our fg% which is now 44% just behind NJ, Orl, No and SA, good fast breaking and or low-post scoring teams.

Similarly with the fast breaks, you could see last year that the components were there. Although the defense is way ahead of our fast breaks, we have started seeing it more and more. We have seen great finishes around the basket by Cat, Wink, KT, Hawkins and Tmo; and finishes from outside by Rice and Wink. That too is going to get better much better.

 

The defensive improvement is one proof that the Rudy bashers are wrong. Good team defense almost always is the result of good coaching. It requires at least two elements that belongs exclusively to coaching: motivation and strategy.

Playing defense is probably 80% motivation 20% talent. Enough said.

With the abolition of illegal defense, defensive strategy has become a very important part in game plans. Good team defense is never an accident.

 

Chemistry and finding out who is going to be our consistent starter at PF would be first on my list. Just pick a starting rotation and stick with it. Then you will have good role players off the bench.

Francis
Mobley
Rice
Taylor
Ming

Thats my starting 5 going into every game.

 

I love their defense now, but one thing that worries me is that now that the rockets are good with the zone...the NBA will abolish the zone. always against houston.
Sorry that I am pessimistic. It just appears that the world is agains Houston. GO ROcks

 

Also worth noting is that Yao & Co. have not made it a habit of getting into foul trouble.

With Yao, that was one of the chief concerns going into this season. Could he be smart enough to avoid foul trouble? So far so good. But with a legitimate shot blocker in the wings, Stevie and CAT can take more "risks" in going for steals and playing more aggressive D knowing they have a big backup behind them. Yao is so damn long, his wingspan clogs the passing lanes.

I'm actually glad Rox have good D. If you think about it... the "trend" these days (perhaps b/c of its entertainment value) is to assemble a cast of players for 100 pt pure offensive games. i.e. the "we'll score more points than you can dream" mentality. Yet how far has it taken teams like Sac and Dallas?

Not to belittle their achievements, but neither Sac nor Dallas had enough "oomph" to get to the finals. Great "D", IMHO, is still so crucial to winning 7 game series in the playoffs. "O" alone doesn't cut it (Football is kinda similar to). That fact, and the fact that MOST teams reaching the finals in these past two decades DEMAND a quality center should give us two things to smile about.

Gotta love the Rock D

 

I don't care what points allowed or other stats indicate, our defense isn't that great. We do have good shot blockers in Yao, Cato, and Eddie when he plays, but we aren't one of the best defensive teams. Yao is the single reason why our defense has improved.

 

well sactown and dallas were top 4 teams last year. one of them had to lose in the 2nd round because they faced each other and the one that won (sactown) was within one dick bavetta of winning the west and then winning the title. so i believe their styles have been extremely successful. and now they are the top 2 seeds in the west this year. hard to argue with that. just because the lakers can beat them (and the legitimacy of beating the kings will always be in question b/c of game 6) doesn't really mean anything. hell, even though the lakers are always up there in opp fg %, i still say their O is the reason they win. they are just so efficient and hard to stop, it puts pressure on other teams offenses to keep up. plus when the lakers score they can exclusively play halfcourt D, their strength. basically a good O is as much a prerequisite to a championship as D is currently. at least imho.

 

Ok. I'm in for it now. First let me say kudos to Rudy, the team and SF in particular the effort, emphasis and results with the D. It has improved greatly and is getting even better.

But when the league abolished the illegal defense all I saw was trouble for Steve and Cat and I still don't understand why the NBA coaches slept through last season and we weren't seeing the creative zone combos that are now causing the NBA fits (if it weren't for Yao I believe Stern would be having a stroke right now). Offenses will adjust and there will be some improvement as the season goes on throughout the league. But come playoff time we're going to see some of the ugliest playoff series in the modern era.

Back to the Rox, I can't say to what extent it's the zones or the new offense/personnel that's causing some SF problems - and he's played very well, but I've seen more confusion and frustration from him than I have since he was a rookie. SF has a great game, I love him, but he's not a stop-n-pop guy and neither is Cat and I still believe zones limit their games (this concludes the suicidal portion of my post).

Yao Ming. No zone. Carnage, havok, rapture. I'll take my chances with Shaq by next season, and he's not going to be the Shaq-Daddy we expect in the playoffs this year because of the defenses we're seeing now - toe or no toe.

Yao defensively improves us significantly in man-to-man situations. How the zones attack him and limit the penetration of Steve and Cat will keep us below sweet shooting teams like Sac. and Dallas for awhile. Luckily the NBA will outlaw zones by the start of the 2004 season because it limits the abilities of it's marquee players offensively. You can bet all these scores in the 70's have the NBA marketing department going ballistic. And there's this really incredibly talented really tall guy from China ready, willing and able to make the bottom line sing. There is nothing I've seen watching 30 years of the NBA that can suggest zones are are an overall benefit to this team. It's not beyond the realm of possibility it could get Cuban a ring, and that's messed up.

 

Say DeClan...

If you can, can u refresh us on the new rule changes?

I had the notion that the new rule changes regarding "zones" was to allow for "faster and more fluid play." You seem to suggest that the "zones" make for slower play. Am I understanding you correctly? Also... aren't zones most susceptible to breakdowns from great offensive penetrators? a.la Francis and Mobley? If anything, I would think that they could thrive on the opposition zone D.

But as to our D. Yao filling the middle is just awesome. He clogs everything - the passing lanes AND the driving lanes. But here's what I'm unclear about. Why do you think Yao is better in a Rocket man-to-man D? I would think that Yao would thrive in a zone.

Also, what's this about abolishing "zones" come 2004? Is this official?

Thanks.

theSage

 

zones make it harder for athletic players like steve to do athletic things like drive to the basket. with man to man the defense can be spread where the offense desires, with zone they can clog the paint and prevent penetration and further prevent this by having a really big guy in the middle who doesn't have to leave the middle because he's playing zone. zone allows sorrier defensive players to be on the court and not look so sorry.

 

We are discussing zones in This thread.

There is a poll, go vote and give us your take.

DD

 

This is like baseball's DH rule for Rice, KT, and Mo.

 

The Rockets are actually 2nd in the NBA now, holding their opponents to 87.2ppg (trailing Detroit - 83.9ppg).

Tied for 4th in opponent FG % 41.9

5th in Rebounds 44.45 per game

5th in Blocks 6.3 per game


Not to shabby.