After last night's game got close at the end, I was sure we were going to be tied with Memphis for fewest points allowed per game. Alas, we are not. We have a 0.1 point advantage. If nothing changes dramatically, we know this team is going to be in or near the top 5 in this category. That being said, do we have what it takes to keep this up all year? And why do you say that? http://espn.go.com/nba/statistics/team/_/stat/team-comparison-per-game/sort/avgPointsOpponent Even our defensive powerhouse juggernaut defense anchored by Hakeem Olajuwon in 1993 allowed more points per game.
It's amazing really. I never would have thought it possible. We don't even have two of our best defenders playing. Props to all the players and coaches.
We knew all off season the teams main focus was going to be defense. Thats what will win us a championship. I am so glad the players, coaching staff and front office made this our main priority. Even when we struggle on O we should be able to stay in any game as long as we are playing D.
I'm at a lost for words on what happened to our defense, I mean seriously how can it be with 3 of our starters being out, including our star defensive anchor (and former DPOY) Dwight Howard, and our starting PG (all nba team defender) Beverley being out, that we are the best defensive team in the league so far? Weren't we one of the bottoms defensive teams last year? Howards out, Bevs out, we traded Asik for a pick, and we still somehow jumped to being the best defensive team in the league. Is this real lyfe.
103ppg allowed last year, 93 allowed this year. We scored 107.7ppg last year, 98 this year. What the hell happened?
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We traded Ariza for Parsons, TJones only played 4 games and Dwight has been out for 8 games this season. Thats what happened.
Per game stats are useless. You gotta adjust for pace. The Warriors are better than Houston in points allowed per possession. Still, very good D considering how many games Dwert missed.
Ditch Parsons, add Ariza. There is most of the difference already. Concentrate on defence. There, all done.
It only matters only if it improves your per possession numbers. If your team can slow the pace way down but still gives up a higher than average number of points per possession, your defense still is not good no matter what your per game numbers say. Last season's Knicks are a classic example of this: http://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2014.html #9 in points allowed per game, but only 24th in points allowed per possession. 28th in pace. So, they were able to slow down the pace, but they still sucked on D.
hypothetical, but where would we be if we had Ariza AND Parsons (but likely no Papa)? Basically, is Parsons+Ariza > or = Ariza+Papa+Terry? I'd honestly go with our current situation.
I haven't really thought about it that way. Dwight, Bev, Asik, even Jones have been marked as good defenders. (Yes, I know two of those guys got embarrassed by Aldridge) Aren't you just a breath of foul air. Per possession stats are over-rated. Some bad defensive teams try to give themselves as many opportunities with the ball to get more positive results in the long run. That team has a lot of depth that will go away in the playoffs. Not to mention, they've played bad offensive teams so far. So, what is wrong with you anyway? You are a pretty negative person. You seem to try to find something bad regardless of the bottom line. Like, how do you function day to day like that? That's got to be hard interacting with people.
Apples to oranges The rockets defense this season doesn't have anything to do with what the Knicks did last season. They are 1st in opp ppg the Knicks are 9th. If you want to prove that being number 1 in opp ppg is useless, point out a team in the history of the nba where a team is number 1 in opp ppg and their opp PPP is not in the top half of the league.
Once Bev and Howard get back we probably will see the Rockets giving up 5 fewer PPG. Kudos to Morey for assembling this roster and McHale for taking over the defense. And my god, I do so love watching great NBA defense.
I would guess it never has happened. If it did it certainly would be an oddity. Did it come close to happening in the JVG years? I would not think so.
