http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/statitudes/news/2003/02/12/points_allowed/ According to the author, Huston's points allowed is 7th, but actual defensive efficiecy is 14th, which is medicore.
I dont think their defense is good at all...but at times we have the best defense in the league..its all about heart and determination
His concept, however, completely discounts things like blocks and steals and turnovers forced. It also COMPLETELY ignores maybe the most important stat which is opponent's field goal percentage. The number of shots you take has little to do with your percentage. I mean, by his stats, San Antonio is ALSO a mediocre defensive team and I don't think ANYONE believes that.
Can't agree with you on this one Jeff. His formular: To compute a team's Defensive Efficiency, take its opponents' free-throw attempts and multiply by 0.44. Add opponents' field-goal attempts and turnovers, and subtract opponents' offensive rebounds. Take points allowed and divide by this number, and multiply the result by 100. If reading that formula made you lapse into a coma, that's OK; I already did all the math. Just keep reading.) Turnover is being counted. A block results in an attempt without score= lower percentage, also being counted. The more turnovers and block shots, the lower field goal percentage will result in lower defensive efficiency, which is better defence in this case. Also in his article , top 6 teams in defensive efficiency are: New Jersey, Detroit, SAN ANTONIO, Sacramento,Denver and Indiana.
Over the past few weeks I've made the same argument that the Rockets defense is overrated. I still feel that way. True, we are a good blocking team and are among the tops in regards to opponent's field goal percentage(which I feel is flawed), but we are also on the other end of the spectrum when it comes to steals and forced turnovers. While opponents field goal percentage isn't directly taken into consideration, this formula gives a clearer picture of how good a defense really is because it takes into consideration important defensive stats like turnovers, points allowed(any defensive fouls take away from efficiency when the other team scores) and opponents offensive rebounds(a very important number in this formula), all of which opponents field goal percentage doesn't account for. Like choujie pointed out, San Antonio is the 3rd most efficient defense in the league. I have to admit, I was actually suprised by that. Living with a Spurs fans, I've got to watch alot of their games and while they are a good defensive team, I never would have guessed they would be that efficient.
the rox's defense is average better than phoenix suns and cavs, but not the spurs or the jazz. eddie griffin needs to improve his defense and helps out on the board. if he gets better, yao has to leave his man and help out. even if yao forces a missed shot, yao's man will get the rebound and put back. in addition, yao has to box out his man and get in better position for defensive rebounds.
Opponents turnovers and steals are misleading statistics. You can crate a lot of turnovers and not be a great defensive team. Boston, Seattle, Denver and New Orleans are in the top 10 in steals and none of them are particularly good defensive teams. In fact, Denver is the number one team in the league in turnovers forced. Almost all basketball afficianados know that good team defense is best measured by opponent field goal percentage. Consistently keeping FG percentage low is not easy to do defensively, particularly when the team doesn't play zone, which the Rockets haven't played in a while.
You're right Jeff, all of those teams aren't spectacular defensive teams. I'm not implying any one stat is a telltale sign of a good defensive team. They all must be considered which is why I like the DE formula. However, I do firmly believe OFG% is a flawed stat to go by.
But, if you consider that the Rockets rank in the top 10 in opponent FG%, opponent points per game, opponent 3pt%, blocked shots, rebounding and opponent rebounding PLUS they commit fewer fouls than any other team, that doesn't exactly constitute being overrated on that end of the floor. If turnovers forced and steals are the only significant defensive categories where the Rockets rank low, I can certainly live with that.
Our defense is inconsistent. IMO, we played our best D this year, in a 2-3 zone. Our man-to-man defense is among the worst in the NBA. I don't think we have anyone I would consider a stopper.
Our defense much like our offense can be among the elite when the Rockets stay focused, and flow within the gameplan. It's not lack of talent that makes the Rockets play terrible in certain games. It's overall lack of experience with this team, and consistency. On another note, lets make this a trade thread too I'm just curious as to what Tony Kukoc would cost for the Rockets. He's had a thumb injury as of late, but he seems like he'd make a good addition at Small Forward. He's a three point threat, long tall defender, can drive in the lane, and has playoff experience, which if the Rockets do in fact make the playoffs, will need if/when they get there.
I agree that our defense is inconsistent. These last two games are a perfect example. Last night, the Jazz got every wide open jumper they wanted from 15 feet and out. They shot really well, but they had lots of open looks because the Rockets weren't fighting hard enough to get around picks. Tonight, they did a much better job of contesting those shots, and the Jazz did not shoot as well.
One thing I have noticed about our defense is it is designed to stop people from scoring in the lane and forces teams to shoot jumpers. We definitely can't stop everything since we don't have great on the ball defenders. This is a good defensive scheme for us, since most teams would rather give up jumpers than layups ( Think Dallas in last years playoffs). Because of the way our defense is designed, we sometimes will look really bad when the opposing teams start lighting it up from behind the arc. Think about our worse losses this year (1 st Sac game, Dallas games, 1st Sonics game). Those teams shot really well from the outside.
I'm not too surprised we're middle of the pack now. Our defensive intensity has really slacked off for the last 1+ months. If he had run our numbers at the end of December, I bet we'd have been top 10.
Well, the defense wasn't overrated last night. IMHO, the defense was significantly better last night, and was THE key to last night's win. Tues' game was a clinic on ball movement and cutting without the ball. Wed's game was a clinic on defending ball movement and cutting without the ball. Posey was in Harpring's face all night, the weakside collapsed beautifully all night to stop all the weakside movement & cutting(curious more teams don't defend the Jazz that way, they're not a big 3 pt shooting team), and even Steve did a good job shadowing Stockton. Yeah, Steve had a big offensive night, and Yao made some nice plays, but the energy & focus on defense was much improved over Tuesday. They keep playing defense like that, and they'll make the playoffs.
