If you play the Rockets, how would you defend them

Don't bother. They can't make 38% of wide open shots anyway. Save your energy for the offensive end.

 

Crash the offensive boards HARD. Don't worry so much about getting back on defense. Why? You'll get lot's of 2nd chance points as the Rockets don't have any dominant rebounders. Besides, they don't run that much and when they do, they usually turn it over.

Any time a Rocket grabs a rebound, slap at the ball. Why? The Rockets tend to be very careless with the ball once they grab a rebound. Again, lots of 2nd chance buckets.

Half court trap the guards as much as possible. Why? They panic and try to dribble through double teams. You'll get lots of easy turnovers.

 

Play tight defense on Steve, Cuttino, and Yao. Play lax defense on JJ. Have JJ's defender be ready to support the paint defense. Play no defense on Cato. Put his guy on Yao. It works all the time.

 

Let them shoot from anywhere on the court.

 

Dont even worry about defense. Just make sure you score 70 pts and you will be guaranteed a victory.

 

I would zone up with the sag in on Yao and sagging out on Steve and Cat when they get the ball. Don't even look at Cato outside of the lane. It really doesn't matter if he gets the ball. If he gets the ball, just bring one big defender over on him. Hopefully, he fires away. Every opponent wants Cato to shoot. On the perimeter, play a loose zone, especially on JJ. Cut off the Francis and Cat drive and force them to pass. Until they prove they can rotate the ball effectively for the open shot, this is the best play because they will be tempted to attempt to split the double and make something happen. Play all the screens loose. Go under the screens. If Steve, Cat, and JJ want to jack up shots behind the screen, give those shots to them until they prove they can hit consistently. If Francis does get loose for the drive, then the big man who is playing the side Cato is on should go to the bucket and look for Cato and the lob. The zone should front Yao at all times with the weakside being aware of the fronting defense and looking to help on any lobs. When the guards or small forward sags in on Yao from the upside, then the interior defense should back him. Just flip the zone, when Stevie has the ball, sag out and double him and front Yao. When JJ has the ball sag in on Yao and let the post defense should back Yao. The Rockets can't do lobs effectively because the passers aren't real good passers and Yao's hands are suspect when it comes to grabbing the ball. Front Yao and let the weakside defender help on anything that gets past the fronting defense. Any defender that gets close to Yao should bang him high every chance they get. You aren't going to move his base but his upper body is susceptible to a pounding. Use forearms and elbows for leverage on Yao above the waist. Forget trying to get underneath Yao unless you are named Shaq. Just take what he gives you and be as physical with him as possible on his upper body.

At the end of tight games, double Steve and Yao and try to force the ball to anybody else. If Yao gets the ball, foul him, he is having trouble hitting the freebies at the end.

 

This is simple! Pack the middle, trap the ball when Francis or Cuttino have it, and let Cato and JJ take all the perimeter shots they want.

Francis will lose the ball trying to driblle out of the trap.
Cat will shoot with two men on him.
Yao would never get the ball.

 

80 points! If you want to make sure!

 

While Francis was in the game I would give the Rockets 2 on 1 fastbreak opportunities to entice turnovers from Francis. If Francis elects to walk the ball up the court instead of run the break you've got to front Yao. This causes the guards to hold the ball for about 5 seconds trying to figure out a way to get in to the post before they realize that it's impossible with Cato's defender cheating over waiting to steal the ball if a pass was made. This should run most of the clock down forcing a bad perimeter shot. Watch out for Francis at this time because bad perimeter shots are Francis's specialty.