Bballbreakdown-Houston Rockets Defense: Both Lucky AND Good

Twenty-two games in is a little late to still claim luck as a reason for what is clearly a trend.

 

Seems to me like non-Rockets fans think it's too early to hail Harden has a much improved defender, but I've yet to hear any resistance against the narrative that Curry's defense has improved leaps and bounds. Do people enjoy the jokes and vines at Harden's expense so much that they don't want to give up that narrative? I admit, they're pretty funny sometimes, but what's funny shouldn't get in the way of what's true. I decided to keep an open mind and poke around, maybe someone out there has valid reasons to why 23 games isn't enough to put the narrative to rest.

Amin says Harden's close-outs are too wild, and he thinks that's a HUGE deal despite the fact a lot of these wild close-outs are preventing an open three in exchange for a long two. If that's the best Amin can come up with then his resistance is on some pretty weak legs. If anything, I would say Harden's hard close-outs are actually a huge positive, and the difference between in impact between a wildly hard close-out and a perfect close-out (one that also stops potential penetration) are minimal. Guys like Dwight, D-Mo, Dorsey, Jones ect can do a good job of protecting the paint against the dribble penetration, but they can't close out on Harden's man for him.

As for Seth Partnow and his valid argument that Houston's opponents are missing wide open threes, I would say any chance of regression will be completely off-set by the return of the Rockets two best defenders -- Patrick Beverley and Dwight Howard -- who have missed a combined 24 games within the first 22 games of the season. A lot of these wide open threes have been the result of Dwight's absence, as the Rockets normally wouldn't need to pack the paint as often when Dwight is there. Beverley's on-ball pressure also limits the need for multiple help defenders to get sucked into the paint.