This is actually really interesting because a lot of people don't consider rebounding or boxing out to be defense. It got brought up and discussed on here years ago because Garrison Matthews (lol) was getting good grades as a defender by defensive analytics. What it comes down to is a lot of people think defense is purely "how good are you at guarding", and that's it. Just the "guarding" part. But for analytics, they don't watch the games and can't see you guard people. The only thing they can measure is "when you are on the court, does the other team score less points?" Obviously if you're good at guarding people in a very traditional and visibly obvious way, that's the best way to prevent the other team from scoring. But there are a lot of other ways to do it too. In the case of Garrison Matthews, he was leading the lead in charges per 36 or something like that, and taking charges is actually a really really good way to stop the other team from scoring. Rebounding is also good at this, same with boxing out. Another example would be like old guys who are really smart calling out plays, even if they aren't quick enough to stay in front of their guy anymore. The point, though, is there are a lot of little things that can be done to "prevent the other team from scoring points" but that many basketball fans do not consider "defense".
And some notes following the video: - Rockets guards were 0 for 8 in wide open 3s that were passed out of the post by Sengun. - He is visibly better in rebounds, covers more space and opponents have a harder time to reach the ball. This is reflected in his stats too. Both of his offensive and defensive rebound per36 numbers are up about 50%, which is literally insane for a guy who was already taking 9 boards a game. - He looked physically much better compared to the first 6 games. I think he looked better last game 3rd quarter as well. -
Oh look, we have a top defense again. How is that opponent 3FG% looking? Alperen Sengun: Starting C for a top 5 defense.
9th in defensive rating league leaders, like 7 of those mofo's are Thunder lol. 3rd best Center. https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2025_leaders.html
Green can be a much better Jamal Murray. Green actually plays defense and is a much more explosive scorer. I'm glad Green realizes he needs Alp just as much as Alp needs Green.
It looks more like a version of Sacramento paired with one iota of OKC's Defense than Denver to be fair. Instead of Sactown's Accuracy you have elite offensive rebounding.
Kudos to Jalen. I appreciate the honesty. First time I hear him say something like that. And I agree - they could be our own version of Jokic and Murray, except we will have a MUCH better team around them when Amen and Tari and Reed enter their prime.
I am a bit surprised to see Alperen gasping for air in the 4th quarter of games lately, Ime also has mentioned multiple times that Alp will be fine once hes in game shape, implying he did not come into the season in shape. I would have hoped that in year 4 and after getting $185M he would have been ready to start the season from a conditioning standpoint. I recall his rookie year they had to push him to do sprints too, and our coaching staff was beating him in running exercises.
He signed that extension a few days before the season started. How would that have affected his conditioning?
I think most big men get gassed more than guards. They usually play fewer minutes. Tbh, no idea how Jokic does it. He is kind of chubby.