Well, I read in the thread about TMac where t_mac1 claims Barkley says we're not a good defensive team: "i mean, barkley did say we're not a good defensive team" http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?p=4086623#post4086623 Not sure when Barkley said that, but I've always known our defense is pretty good (except against Lakers, LOL) and this is confirmed if you look at the Opponent PPG at nba.com: http://www.nba.com/statistics/sortable_team_statistics/sortable1.html#top Houston has the 4th best defense in the NBA at 92.63 Oppponent PPG, which is roughly where we should be (well, maybe we should be a bit higher with Artest?). Interestingly however, the Hornets rank 3rd in the NBA with 92.33 Opponent PPG, which is slightly higher than the Rockets. Now, out of curiosity, I went to check the Opponent PPG for last season, and New Orleans was behind us last season, over 3 Opponent PPG behind us actually: http://www.hoopsstats.com/basketball/fantasy/nba/opponentstats/08/1/pts/1-1 This is the baffling part. Shouldn't we be an even better defensive team this year with Artest in the lineup? Especially, when Artest, Battier, and Hayes are on the floor at the same time, that should be a defensive nightmare for any opponent, LOL. So, what makes New Orleans a better defensive team than us this year, even with Artest on our roster?
We haven't played a single game this season with 100% Yao, Tracy, Ron, and Shane. We haven't even played a game with 100% Ron and Shane yet, Shane when his injury before the season and Ron playing even still with a bad ankle. Hopefully by the All-Star break in Feb, we won't even recognize our team as it is now.
In defensive efficiency (points per 100 possessions), the Rockets currently rank 5th in the league at 102.2, despite missing Battier a good chunk of the season. The Hornets rank 11th at 105.4. In effective field goal percentage, the Rockets are 6th at 47.1%, while the Hornets are all the way down at 20th with 50.3%. The Hornets are NOT a better defensive team than the Rockets. Not by any measure you can think of.
Ron + Shane + Yao = Serious Defense, add some Chuck when needed. You just need to wait a bit. The season "barely" just started.
43.8% FG vs. 45.7% FG 32.5% 3FG vs. 37.7% 3FG 30.8 vs. 27.8 FG 92.3 vs. 92.6 pts http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/stats/byteam?cat1=Total&cat2=opponent&conference=NBA&year=season_2008/ Defensive Efficiency (rating): Hornets - 11th Rockets - 5th http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/HOU/2009.html/ How are they a better defense than we are?
Artest talked about something related to it in his latest interview, team defense > individual defense
well other than the fact that new Orleans absolutely does not have a better defense than us, the most integral part of our defense, battier, has missed more games than he's played.
PPG is a terrible stat to use for defense. Efficiency is the best. Anyway - whether by injuries or whatever, it's pretty obvious that Rox defense, for years either the best or second best in the NBA, ain't what it used to be.
probly has something to do with us playing a slightly faster pace this year, extra possessions and such
Their pace hasnt changed at all from last year, they just arent defending as well as last year for a number of reasons: Battier not being around, Tmac not being able to defend, Yao's mobility. Artest is one of the few reasons the team is still elite defensively.
I remember Barkley saying we are not a good defensive team it's just the pace that we play at. He said this during the JVG era.
injuries. we usually field 2 6'8 guys out there so we can switch very easily off picks. we can't as much now and that causes more double teams -> more required rotations. when tracy and artest returns, we can field a lineup of tracy, artest ,battier where we can switch on basically everybody outside of PGs.
Injuries have impacted the defense, but it is still one of the best defenses in the league regardless, and the numbers say that New Orleans is much worse defensively. To say that the two defenses are on the same level, let alone the Hornets being "better" is laughable at best.
All teams have injuries to one degree or another. I believe it is a pipe dream to think we're going to have all our players 100% healthy for any significant part of the season.
No kidding. Pedja at the 3, West at the 4, whatever scrub they have at the 2....There is no way theyre a better defensive team.
